For some time now, I have thought about doing a blog on the fascinating era we find ourselves in with Heavyweight boxing. A few years ago, we had all these possible pathways and “super fights” that could happen, all with the idea that FINALLY we would have an UNDISPUTED king of the heavyweight division once again. With the fall of Wladimir Klitschko to both Tyson Fury and then to Anthony Joshua, and with brother Vitali having moved on, the division was open again, and the throne needed a new King to claim it. Fury and Joshua had strong claims, Deontay Wilder and Joseph Parker also… and after AJ got over his shock defeat to Andy Ruiz, by comfortable reclaiming his belts in the rematch, Fury and Wilder had their incredible trilogy of fights that saw The Gypsy King emerge as the man to be able to state his claim to be THE King. AJ vs Fury to crown the Undisputed king of heavyweight boxing, the first in 20 years since Lennox Lewis, seemed inevitable. But it seemed that a warrior from the Ukraine had other ideas, his own dream, to be crowned the best of the best. This is the story of how Oleksandr The Great conquered boxing.
Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Usyk was born January 17th 1987, and would go on to find his way to amateur boxing, with his first major competitive outing coming in the 2006 European Championships where he reached the semi finals. In 2008 he won the Strandja Cup (an annual amateur tournament held in Bulgaria) before later that year qualifying for the Olympic Games. There he reached the quarter finals. But Usyk moved to another level in the years that followed, winning gold at light-heavyweight at the 2008 European Championships, before then making the move back to heavyweight. A few years later, Usyk won the heavyweight title at 2011’s World Amateur Championships (defeating future world great Artur Beterbiev among others en-route) and thus gained qualification for the 2012 Olympics in London.
Usyk achieved the ultimate utopia of amateur boxing in London, by winning the Olympic Gold medal. He went on to compete in the 2012/13 World Series of Boxing for the Ukraine Otamans team (winning all 6 of his fights, including one against future fellow heavyweight contender Joe Joyce) to finish off his amateur boxing career. He would step up to the professional ranks with an incredible record of 335-15.
He was quickly signed to K2 Promotions (the banner company of the Klitschko Brothers) in 2013 aged 26. He would begin his professional boxing career in the cruiserweight division.
On November 9th 2013, Felipe Romero was knocked out in round 5. The following month, Epifanio Mendoza was dispatched in round 4. In professional fight number 3, Usyk fought on the undercard of Wladimir Klitschko’s fight against Alex Leapai, where he defeated Ben Nsafoah by 3rd round KO. In May of 2014 Usyk marched on, with a 4th round KO of Cesar David Crenz back on home soil for the proud Ukrainian. Later that year, the first (of many) professional titles came his way, with a win on October 4th over Daniel Bruwer to win the Interim WBO Intercontinental Cruiserweight Championship. His first defence proved his toughest Pro fight so far, as Danie Venter was beaten with a ninth round stoppage. Albeit he was ahead on all of the 3 judges’ scorecards at the time.
Throughout the rest of 2015, Usyk turned Kyiv into his own boxing playground, with 3 more TKO wins in the city to continuously retain his WBO Inter-Continental cruiserweight title, finishing off the year with a win over Pedro Rodriguez (who went into the fight overweight in fact). in 2016, Usyk went around the world as his domination of boxing extended all over the globe; he began in Poland with a win over Krzysztof Głowacki where Oleksandr won the WBO cruiserweight title, a title which he retained in Inglewood, California in December of 2016 with a win over Thabiso Mchunu. The next year saw two more wins in his globe-trotting boxing takeover, beginning with Oxon Hill, Maryland where Usyk beat Michael Hunter by unanimous decision, before Usyk’s participation in the World Boxing Super Series began with a win over Marco Huck in Halle, Germany. 2018 saw Usyk travel to Latvia, where Oleksandr retained his WBO Cruiserweight title, won the WBC title and also reached the WBSS final with a win over the great Mairis Briedis. It was Usyk’s toughest fight yet, but he came through it, setting it all up for him to have his date with destiny in the summer of 2018.
Two men in history had ever been undisputed Cruiserweight champion of the world; O’Neil Bell and the legendary Evander Holyfield. They both held 3 world titles at the same time. Nobody had EVER done it at Cruiserweight with FOUR titles. Immortality awaited for the World Boxing Super Series cruiserweight final winner.
Murat Gassiev was a monster. 26-0-1, and had his Russian backers push hard to get the final on home soil, which they did. It seemed everything was against Usyk, but in the fight itself, it was once again the man from Ukraine’s night.
And he didn’t just win, he dominated.
120-108, 119-109, 119-109. It was never in doubt, and the magical touch after the fight was not just how magnanimous Gassiev was, nor how gracious Usyk was in his victory, but the widow of Muhammad Ali, Lonnie, presenting the victorious Ukrainian with the tournament trophy. Usyk’s place in boxing’s history was secured. He had retained his WBO and WBC title, adding the WBA (Super), IBF and vacant The Ring cruiserweight titles to his Muhammad Ali trophy. And he wasn’t close to being done yet.
It was time to cash in. And in the form of Tony Bellew, that fight came. The hard hitting Liverpudlian had just made his fortune with back to back wins at heavyweight against rival David Haye. And so with his career having already been made, the brave Bellew wanted his own shot at the ultimate glory, by taking on the best of the best in his division. It was indeed brave, but… he who dares wins… or, in the real world, not always…
Once again, Usyk was just too good for his opponent to handle. And an 8th round KO simply confirmed what always seemed like an inevitable result.
Bellew said after that Usyk was “the greatest man I’ve fought”. He knew he had been well beaten. And with the division dominated, and his money made… Instead of throwing in the towel, Usyk sought even further glory, and declared his intention to make the move up to the heavyweight ranks. The land of giants awaited.
The move up for Usyk had somewhat of a rocky start; firstly a fight with Carlos Takam failed to materialise due to firstly an Usyk bicep injury, and then after it was rearranged for a later date it was now Takam that was out of the fight, with Eddie Hearn stating as much in August of 2019. There was then a possibility that due to his previous status as a WBO ‘Super’ champion, that Oleksandr would have the possibility to face the winner of the Andy Ruiz and Anthony Joshua rematch for the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight titles, however he chose not to… for now… In the later part of 2019, it was announced that Usyk would face unbeaten heavyweight Tyrone Sprong, only for the fighter to test positive for a banned substance a few days prior to the scheduled bout. Instead the experienced Chazz Witherspoon was inserted… and just as quickly was dispatched again, with Usyk eventually retiring the American in his corner after the end of the 7th round. Next up would be a tougher test once more, but with a grander prize waiting should Usyk succeed.
In early 2020 it was announced that Oleksandr would be in line for a World Heavyweight title shot against Anthony Joshua, IF… he could first get past seasoned heavyweight contender Derek Chisora. After a few pandemic related issues surrounding the fight, the bout took place on Halloween night, at London’s SSE Arena.
117–112, 115–113, 115–113. A unanimous decision win for Usyk. And his mind soon switched to what would be next…
Step 1 of Usyk’s plan for Heavyweight domination would begin almost one year later, at the magnificent Tottenham Hotspur stadium.
It was a tough night for this Anthony Joshua fan. I had seen him come through slugfests and epics before, even seen Andy Ruiz outpunch AJ in a shoot-out. But here he was simply outclassed and outfought. The Londoner just had no answers for the masterful Ukrainian.
117–112, 116–112, 115–113. Another clear Usyk win. Another contender defeated. A bewildered AJ would have to lick his wounds and ready himself for the rematch, just under one year later In Saudi Arabia. And as the Middle Eastern hotbed became Boxing’s true Kingdom, Oleksandr continued his quest to become it’s king. But for Usyk, it was maybe his most meaningful boxing fight so far, given the fight his own country was currently in the midst of…
On February 24th 2022, Russian forces began their villainous invasion of and war against the country of Ukraine. Oleksandr Usyk, a proud Ukrainian, was naturally thrown by this, and any talk of a rematch with Anthony Joshua was thrown into disarray. Usyk himself later took up arms against Russia, and said
“I really don’t know when I’m going to be stepping back in the ring. My country and my honour are more important to me than a championship belt”.
In late March of that year however, Usyk was chosen to fight for his country in a different realm. He would leave the battlefield for the boxing gym, in preparation for the second Joshua fight. A decision supported by two of his own, the Mayor of Kyiv, as well as his younger brother. Two men who know a thing or two about boxing…
The fight would be made official on June 19th 2022, to take place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The riches going to both men would surely pail in insignificance compared to the sporting glory of the heavyweight Belts now held by Usyk, as well as the now vacant Ring magazine title. Would it be repeat though, or revenge?
Repeat, is the short answer. Although, not quite. Joshua showed a much improved performance, he had clearly learnt from their first encounter (AJ for example, hit 37 body punches compared to 15 in their first bout). But if the challenger was better this time around, so was the champion. Usyk hit and threw more than AJ, breaking records for any opponent in an Anthony Joshua fight for punches landed overall and in a single round. And even if AJ could argue that he may have had openings (particularly towards the end where if he just pushed on the gas a LITTLE more, he may have had something), it was still Usyk’s night once more. The fact that it was only a split win, as opposed to unanimous, was widely slammed post fight, but regardless at least the right man got the win. A win for Usyk in a great fight, which sadly will only be remembered for the post-match breakdown of Joshua, as his frustrations took over.
But for Usyk, his mind was still clear. He stated after the fight it was Tyson Fury next, or he may be done boxing. But he reminded us all of the greater battles taking place, dedicating his victory to his country and the “Armed Forces of Ukraine” and everyone defending them.
Slava Ukraini!
With Tyson Fury busy chasing his fantasy world fight with former UFC Heavyweight Champion Francis Ngannou (I could do a whole blog on that farce by the way, the biggest shambles of a performance of The Gypsy King’s career to me, how he got the decision is a robbery in my opinion), boxing’s other World Heavyweight Champion Oleksadnr Usyk had a mandatory defence against WBA (Regular) Champion Daniel Dubois to contend with. And contend with Usyk nearly DID NOT…
You can make your own mind up if it was a low blow, or a good body shot. But it can’t be argued that it changed the fight completely. Could Dubois have finished the job if he was allowed the chance to? We will never know… Usyk gets his most controversial win yet. He had done his bit, Tyson Fury JUST about did his against Francis Ngannou a few months later. And so everything was set up, to once again crown the UNDISPUTED Heavyweight Champion of the World.
With the Saudi riches once again putting on the bout, it was delayed due to a cut Fury had sustained during his preparations, and so February 17th became May 18th. Usyk, having already missed the birth of his child due to training, would return home to war-torn Ukraine to be with his family, before his own preparations would resume. For Tyson Fury though, a near-embarrassment against Francis Ngannou in his previous bout, now a nasty cut delaying this fight, was he truly best prepared for the Undisputed fight? Well… he cealry was not, but that did not take anything away from the sheer class of the Ukrainian.
For what it’s worth, I scored the bout 114-113 to Usyk. I actually had Tyson Fury ahead at the end of round 7 (Fury I gave rounds 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7), and as much as his showboating frustrated me, he seemed to get his act together, and was in front with 5 rounds remaining on my scorecard at least. But round 8 onwards it all fell apart, and of course it’s hard to look past round 9 and say Fury wasn’t lucky to be allowed to go into the 10th.
After an easy 10-8 for Usyk in the ninth, I then gave him rounds 9, 10 and 11. Even the 12th to Fury was not enough for me. The Judges somewhat agreed (115–112, 113–114, 114–113), but joining the likes of Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, George Foreman, Joe Frazier, Sonny Liston, and of course of 3 occasions was the great Muhammed Ali, the first Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion since Lennox Lewis some 24 years prior, was Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Usyk.
It would last merely a few weeks, as the absurdity of boxing politics once again reared it’s ugly head. But really, it did not matter. Usyk was the king, and that could not be disputed. As Daniel Dubois took out Anthony Joshua elsewhere (more on that later), Tyson Fury would get his chance at redemption later in 2024, once again in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, we would find out once more if it would be revenge or, or repeat for the great Ukrainian.
I did something a little different for this fight. Watching live, I chose to score the fight as I watched. Which i actually really enjoyed and found it only added to the drama and my enjoyment of what was a wonderful contest of the two best heavyweight boxers on the planet. A fantastic night of boxing entertainment, which featured the return of the great Adam Smith to the commentators position after his fight with Cancer, was rounded off with the rematch of all rematches, and the reason that really made me want to write this blog. For me, it was the night that Oleksandr Usyk became the greatest of them all.
On my own scorecards, the story of the fight was clear. Fury was good, Usyk was better. I saw a much improved, much more focused Tyson Fury, who showed off both his power and footwork. But Usyk proved to be the ultimate master, and his movement in this fight was like nothing I have ever seen. Fury simply couldn’t stay on him, and any momentum Fury had, quickly went away. I felt most of the rounds were close, certainly we had none like the ninth round of their previous encounter, but once again the first half of the fight was maybe more towards Tyson, but Oleksandr saw it home in the end. I had it 57-57 even after round 6, but I then gave Usyk rounds 7, 8, 11 and 12 for a final score of 115-113 to the champion. And the judges pretty much agreed, with all three going 116-112. I wont argue with those numbers, but I certainly will disagree with the likes of Tyson Fury, Frank Warren, and others who felt after the decision was incorrect. It was not, they must have saw a different fight to the one I did. The stats after the fight all favoured Usyk, ESPN, The Independent, Dazn, CBS Sports and other media outlets all did the same with their scorings. Usyk won this fight, even more decisively that in the first fight, against a BETTER Tyson Fury. A truly masterful performance.
Perhaps the most poignant moment of the fight took place after, with Usyk holding aloft a sword that once belonged to a 17th‑century Ukrainian Cossack warrior called Ivan Mazepa. Alex Krassyuk, Usyk’s promoter, said afterwards that said “This is the original sabre of the legendary Hetman who fought for Ukraine’s freedom from Russian invaders over 300 years ago”. The sword had been flown in from a museum in Ukraine especially for the occasion.
What next for the great man, only time will tell. Perhaps a rematch with Daniel Dubois, who rudely interrupted Usyk’s post fight interviews to state his desire for them to go again, and a chance for Usyk to become a 2-time Undisputed Heavyweight king. But with the evil war of Russia against The Ukraine still ongoing, Oleksandr continues to be symbol of excellence and triumph for the battle hardened country. An inspiration to so many when his country most needs him, but also a great husband and father. Usyk took the time to speak of his children’s Judo achievements during his post-fight interviews after his rematch win over Fury. So often he shows that he isn’t just a great boxing champion, but a great man and father too.
At this moment in time, Oleksandr Usyk is the WBA (Super), WBC, WBO, IBO, and The Ring Magazine heavyweight champion. He is a former Undisputed Champion at both Heavyweight and Cruiserweight, an Olympic Gold medallist too, And the Muhammad Ali Trophy winner at Cruiserweight. Undefeated as a professional boxer, arguably the greatest of all time, certainly the best of this era. But more than all those, he proves to be a great father and husband, as well as a great man.
Slava Ukraini! And all hail The King, Oleksandr The Great.
Josh.