Anthony Joshua must prove that he is worthy of a fight with Tyson Fury when he rematches Oleksandr Usyk later this year.
That's according to Usyk's countryman and former two-time world heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko, who ruled the division for years alongside his brother Wladimir.
The elder Klitschko was in London to support fellow Ukrainian Usyk in his first effort against Joshua, and got to see up close what went wrong for the Brit.
Now serving as the mayor of Kyiv, Klitschko has said that while Joshua and Fury would be a massive fight, it would be even bigger if Joshua can regain the belief of boxing fans after a comprehensive beating from Usyk.
“It's a huge fight," Klitschko told Sky Sports News. "Right now, everybody doubts if Joshua is strong enough to fight Fury.
“He can give the answer in the Usyk fight - if Joshua beats Usyk, there will be huge interest.
"It will be the main fight of the past ten years.
“Joshua is a classic boxer, Fury is unorthodox - both are punchers and both can decide the fight at any moment.
“Both are world class fighters and can knock each other out at any second, and that is why boxing is so interesting.”
Fury most recently knocked out Deontay Wilder twice in a row to win and then retain the WBC heavyweight title, while Joshua lost his WBA, WBO and IBF belts to Usyk.
The Manchester native comprehensively took care of Wilder in February 2020, brutalising him over seven rounds with next to no resistance, before the towel was mercifully thrown in.
He had a tougher time of it in their trilogy bout last October, being taken to round 11 after being dropped twice by his rival, but he managed to land another vicious stoppage to put an end to the feud.
Meanwhile, Joshua has lost his belts in two of his last four fights; getting stopped by Andy Ruiz Jr in June 2019 before immediately getting them back that December.
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He defended them once against Kubrat Pulev in front of just 1,000 fans at the SSE Arena, Wembley during the coronavirus pandemic before a bout with Fury was scheduled for last summer.
But when Fury was forced out of their August bout in Saudi Arabia, Joshua was ordered to face mandatory challenger Usyk instead, while his rival faced Wilder in a trilogy.
Around 65,000 fans packed into the Tottenham Hotspur stadium to watch the two London 2012 Olympic gold medalists and professional world champions go at it.
But despite boasting a size advantage in every department and entering the ring as favourite, Joshua was unable to get going against former undisputed cruiserweight champion Usyk.
And to earn another chance at fighting Fury, Joshua will have to get through Usyk in a fight where he is now the underdog, and hope that Fury can maintain his winning run against Dillian Whyte.
