Oleksandr Usyk Suffers Elbow Injury, WBSS Cruiserweight Finals Postponed

The World Boxing Super Series just got dealt a major blow as one of its cruiserweight finalists suffered an injury.

Oleksandr Usyk, who holds the WBC and WBO cruiserweight titles, suffered what is being described by tournament organizers as a “minor elbow injury.” As a result of the injury, the World Boxing Super Series cruiserweight finals, scheduled to take place on May 11 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, has been postponed to a later date. Usyk was scheduled to face unified WBA and IBF cruiserweight champion Murat Gassiev in the first-ever World Boxing Super Series finals.

Usyk, considered by many to be the best boxer in the 200-pound division, was the top overall seed in the World Boxing Super Series cruiserweight tournament. Usyk won his quarterfinal fight against former world champion Marco Huck with a TKO victory. In the semifinals, Usyk won the toughest fight of his pro career when he defeated Mairis Briedis by majority decision back in January.

Gassiev punched his ticket to the finals with an impressive win over WBA champion Yunier Dorticos to unify the two world titles. This came after Gassiev knocked out Krzysztof Wlodarczyk in the quarterfinals last year in the second and last tournament fight to take place in the United States.

The WBSS announced that it will work with promoters and local officials to organize a later date for the historic finals, which would crown the first-ever undisputed and unified WBA, WBC, WBO, IBF and Ring Magazine cruiserweight champion. The injury announcement also mentioned that details for the second season of the World Boxing Super Series, including the weight class for the next tournament, will be announced in the coming weeks.