Former super middleweight champion George Groves has a lot of respect for the fighting ability of unbeaten Oleksandr Usyk.

During his pro run, the Olympic gold medal winner became the undisputed world champion in the cruiserweight division - the first to do so in the four belt era.

In September, Usyk reached another major milestone when he outboxed Anthony Joshua over twelve rounds to capture the IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO heavyweight titles.

A rematch is already in play for the first quarter of 2022 - with dates in April being explored.

While Joshua is going to do everything possible to improve his game in order to regain his belts, Groves believes it could be tough because Usyk could improve his game as well.

"Anthony Joshua is definitely still up there as one of the best, and one of the top three in the world. I think he defeats Deontay Wilder and beats the other guys coming through. But we now have to see how much desire he still has. It will be extremely difficult to get back to that No 1 spot, but never say never in the heavyweight division. It only takes one punch," Groves said to Sky Sports.

"He might be able to make some changes, make some adjustments and come back even stronger. It could be very tough to defeat Oleksandr Usyk. I think Usyk might improve from his first fight against Joshua.

"Usyk is the best talent in the heavyweight division. He's the only legitimate heavyweight who could go in a pound-for-pound rating. He doesn't win his fights because he's 6'9" and 20st. He wins his fights because he's got great ability."