It seems like the goalposts have moved for the Ukrainian since his surprisingly testing night in Egypt, when kickboxer Rico Verhoeven gave him all he could handle before Usyk eventually forced a controversial stoppage with a second left in the penultimate round at the Pyramids.

Before that night, Usyk had declared that his clash with Verhoeven would be the first of a three-fight run into retirement. It would be Egypt first, the winner of Fabio Wardley and Daniel Dubois second and a third and final showdown with good old “Greedy Belly” Tyson Fury.

But after toiling in the desert against Verhoeven (1-1, 1 KO) it looks as though the 39-year-old three-time undisputed champion is going to have only one more and then bow out for good. It will almost certainly not be Dubois, who beat Wardley for the title in May, and with Fury on a collision course with Anthony Joshua it will not be the Gypsy King either.

Promoter Eddie Hearn has speculated that Usyk, who dropped his WBC, WBA and IBF belts but retained his Ring Magazine title, will face Deontay Wilder in his swansong. Usyk has spoken openly of his desire for a Bronze Bomber fight over the past six months and a huge showpiece fight in one of the major U.S. boxing destinations is the only thing missing from his glittering resume.

And while he remains lineal champion, what is for sure is that the Usyk Era is over. He will have one more fight, whether that’s against Wilder or Verhoeven, Mauricio Pochettino or Mickey Mouse, but he will no longer have to dance to the tune of any sanctioning body. Like Hearn and just about everyone else in boxing agrees, Usyk has earned the right to do whatever he wants.

As in life, all good things in boxing must come to an end but the closure of the Usyk chapter is great news for the rest of the division, especially the stakeholders here in Great Britain. Usyk, of course, is one of history’s great Brit bashers having beaten Fury, Joshua and Dubois twice each and that’s not even mentioning his stoppage of Tony Bellew, his UD against Derek Chisora or his amateur victory over Joe Joyce at York Hall.

No longer will British heavyweights have their world heavyweight championship dreams stamped out by Usyk. On the contrary, it could be an absolute feast for them now he has decided that he’s had more than enough alphabet soup for one lifetime.

As it stands, there are four UK heavyweights within The Ring’s top six and that is without Joshua, who Usyk believes will benefit most from his decision to dump the belts. Dubois and Wardley, who are expected to rematch for the WBO title before the end of the year, are Nos. 1 and 4 while Fury sits at three. Moses Itauma, who will perhaps emerge as history’s next great heavyweight force, is perfectly placed at No. 6 before his August 29 clash with No. 5 Filip Hrgovic in London.

It is not clear exactly how the belts will fall immediately. Agit Kabayel has rightfully been elevated from interim titlist to full WBC champion with decisions regarding the WBA and WBO still to follow.

You would hope that the WBA do the sensible thing and promote their "regular" beltholder Murat Gassiev to the position of world champion ahead of his fight with Tony Yoka on July 11. Below Gassiev, it’s a Brit fest with Itauma, Fury and Joshua all within its top four. It’s an even better picture with the WBC as Fury, Lawrence Okolie and Itauma make up an all-English 1, 2, 3 while Joshua sits at five below Hrgovic.

It will be interesting to see what the IBF does with its belt. Frank Sanchez is the No. 1 contender and he does not have a fight scheduled. But with the No. 2 spot is empty, the next two available contenders are Itauma and Hrgovic. Joshua, Fury, Wardley and Richard Riakporhe are also present in the top 10.

Perhaps the IBF will sanction Itauma-Hrgovic for its full title on the basis that the winner faces Sanchez next. Perhaps they will order Sanchez to fight No. 6 Bakhodir Jalolov for the vacant belt. Whichever it is, a Brit will almost certainly challenge for that title within the next nine months or less.

So, as we wave goodbye to the latest dominant champion in the division, we usher in an exciting new era of contenders jostling for the No. 1 spot. Kabayel and Hrgovic would argue that man will not be from the UK, but here’s the kicker: Both of them are ontracted to Frank Warren’s very British Queensberry Promotions anyway.

The Hall of Famer made a decision a few years back to take total control at heavyweight and set about signing all of the contenders he could. The one outlier was Usyk, who ensured that no matter how many big names Warren signed, he could not control the division because nobody he chucked at him could win.

But with one single social media post on Friday afternoon, Warren’s heavyweight stable transformed from also-rans into world title contenders.