Clash of unbeaten fighters

Oleksandr Usyk

In a clash of unbeaten fighters, Oleksandr Usyk of the Ukraine defends his WBO cruiserweight belt against Michael Hunter from Las Vegas, Nevada, at the MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland, USA, on Saturday night.

This is on the same bill as

the Vasyl Lomachenko vs Jason Sosa fight.

The 30-year-old Usyk (11-0; 10), who fights from the southpaw stance, won the WBO belt in September 2016 when he outpointed Krzysztof Glowacki over 12 rounds. The scores were 119-109 and 117-111 twice.

Three months later he retained the belt with a ninth-round knockout win over South Africa’s Thabiso Mchunu.

Hunter, 28, represented America as a heavyweight at the London 2012 Olympics but failed to win a medal.

He turned pro in March 2013 and has compiled a record of 12-0 with eight wins coming inside the distance.

Hunter has been inactive since May last year when he beat Isiah Thomas, who was 15-0 at the time, to claim the vacant WBO NABO cruiserweight title.

The challenger has no name opponents on his record and the hard-hitting skills of the champion could be too much for him, and he will do well to last the distance.

Also on the card is another former Ukrainian Olympic medallist, light-heavyweight Oleksandr Gvozdyk, who has a record of 12-0 (10) and faces Yunieski Gonzalez, (18-2; 14).

Gvozdyk is coming off good wins against Nadjib Mohammedi, Tommy Karpency and Isaac Chilemba in his last three fights.