Usyk, The Ring heavyweight champion and the former undisputed cruiserweight champion, hasn’t fought at 200 pounds since an eighth-round knockout of Tony Bellew in November 2018. His past nine fights have all come at heavyweight, most recently an 11th-round stoppage of Rico Verhoeven in May at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt.

Usyk wants to fight Benavidez at his best, according to Lapin. He also wants to be undisputed at cruiserweight champ once again.

That hinges on Benavidez (32-0, 26 KOs) taking care of his own business first. Benavidez, The Ring's No. 5 pound-for-pound fighter, meets WBC titleholder Michal Cieslak (28-2, 22 KOs) on December 5 in Glendale, Arizona, in a DAZN main event that would unify three of the four major titles at 200 pounds. Benavidez holds the WBA and WBO belts. The IBF title is vacant.

Usyk (25-0, 16 KOs) vacated the IBF, WBA and WBC heavyweight titles in June.

For much of this year, Usyk was pursuing a fight against Deontay Wilder in the U.S. Usyk targeted a March date with the former WBC heavyweight champion in part because he wanted one big fight on American soil before retiring. Those talks stalled over finances.

A Benavidez fight would also require Usyk to leapfrog Jai Opetaia, The Ring cruiserweight champ.

Benavidez and Opetaia faced off in the ring September 12 in Las Vegas after Opetaia stopped Noel Mikaelian in the ninth round on a Zuffa Boxing card. Benavidez told Opetaia (31-0, 24 KOs) he’d see him in May on Cinco de Mayo weekend.

Benavidez has since laid out a three-fight plan at cruiserweight that includes Opetaia, Artur Beterbiev and Usyk, and said the Usyk fight could happen at either cruiserweight or heavyweight.

The wild card is whether Usyk, who turns 40 in January, is willing to wait. A cruiserweight return in the first half of 2027 would almost certainly have to come before Benavidez-Opetaia, not after it.

Benavidez is The Ring’s No. 1 contender for Opetaia’s title. Usyk is also The Ring’s No. 2 pound-for-pound boxer.