Oleksandr Usyk
Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Usyk (Ukrainian: Олександр Олександрович Усик; born 17 January 1987) is a Ukrainian professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the unified[a] heavyweight titles since 2021, and the Ring magazine title since 2022. He has also held the International Boxing Organization (IBO) title since 2021. Previously, he held the undisputed[b] cruiserweight championship from 2018 to 2019, being the first boxer in that division to hold all four major world titles.
In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Oleksandrovych and the family name is Usyk.
Usyk is widely regarded as one of the greatest Ukrainian boxers of all time and one of the greatest cruiserweights of all time, alongside Evander Holyfield. With his victory over Anthony Joshua in 2021, Usyk became one of only three boxers to have unified the cruiserweight world titles and become a world heavyweight champion, joining Evander Holyfield and David Haye.[2]
As an amateur, Usyk won heavyweight gold medals at the 2011 World Championships and 2012 Olympics. He turned professional in 2013 and won the undisputed cruiserweight championship in his 15th professional fight in 2018. Three of his titles were won during the inaugural World Boxing Super Series, in which he won the Muhammad Ali Trophy, as well as the Ring and lineal cruiserweight titles. For his achievements, Usyk was named the 2018 Fighter of the Year by Sports Illustrated, ESPN, The Ring and the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA).[3][4][5]
In 2018 Usyk became the fourth male boxer in history to simultaneously hold the WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO titles, after Jermain Taylor, Bernard Hopkins and Terence Crawford. He was the first Ukrainian undisputed champion. He is particularly notable for the speed of his accomplishments, winning his first world title in his tenth fight, and becoming the undisputed champion of his weight class by his fifteenth fight. Usyk vacated his cruiserweight titles in 2019 to move up to heavyweight. By that point, in sixteen fights he had defeated five current or former world champions. In September 2021, Usyk defeated unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua to win the WBA, IBF, WBO, and IBO titles. He defended the titles in a rematch against Joshua in August 2022, whilst winning the vacant Ring title.
As of August 2022, Usyk is ranked as the world's best active boxer, pound for pound, by The Ring,[6] second by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board (TBRB),[7] third by BWAA,[8] fifth by BoxRec[9] and sixth by ESPN.[10] He is also ranked as the best heavyweight by TBRB,[11] BoxRec[12] and ESPN.[13]
Early life
Usyk was born in Simferopol, Crimean Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union on 17 January 1987, to parents originally from northern Ukraine. His mother was born in the Chernihiv region (in the village of Rybotyn, Korop Raion),[14][15] while his father was a native of Sumy.[16][14] His mother worked in construction and moved to Simferopol to study.[16] His father was a military man who passed through Afghanistan, working as a security guard in Crimea, and the two met there.
He is the first born of his family and he has two siblings.[17] Until age 15, he played football and was trained at the SC Tavriya Simferopol specialized sports school of Olympic reserve (club's football academy).[18] In 2002 Usyk switched to boxing. He is a graduate of Lviv State University of Physical Culture.
Professional career
Early career
Usyk turned pro in late 2013 at the age of 26 and signed a promotional deal with the Klitschko brothers' K2 Promotions, fighting in the cruiserweight division.[24]
On 9 November 2013 Usyk made his professional debut by defeating Mexican fighter Felipe Romero via a fifth-round knockout. The following month he stopped 38 year old Epifanio Mendoza in four rounds. In his third professional fight on 26 April 2014, Usyk made his debut in Germany on the undercard of Klitschko-Leapai at the Koenig Pilsener Arena, defeating Ben Nsafoah via third-round knockout.[25] A month later, Usyk returned home and scored a fourth-round knockout-victory over Argentine Cesar David Crenz.
Personal life
Usyk is married and has three children.[157] They live in Kyiv, Ukraine.
His wife has Russian citizenship and the boxer uses Russian as his first language.[158] On 28 April 2014, after the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, Usyk declared he would never exchange his Ukrainian citizenship for Russian citizenship.[159] In 2016, responding to a question if he can still enter Crimea, he stated that he often visits his family in the peninsula; that he does not like to talk politics due to the fact that people like to take words out of context, that in Russia he has many fans and that he does not divide "our peoples because we are Slavs".[160] Afterwards, whenever pressed on the question, Usyk would often reply "Crimea belongs to God";[161] however in September 2022 Usyk stated that Crimea "was, is and will be" Ukrainian and that it had been taken away forcefully from Ukraine.[162][163] In November, after Ukrainian Armed Forces recaptured Kherson, Usyk posted a message on his Instagram account: "Donetsk is Ukraine. Luhansk is Ukraine. Zaporizhzhia is Ukraine. Crimea is Ukraine. Kherson is Ukraine. Glory to Ukraine. Glory to ZSU".[164]
In December 2020, it was announced that he will become a partner of WePlay Esports for the upcoming WePlay Ultimate Fighting League. Esports host James Banks has this to say about Usyk's involvement in his DashFight interview: “He is helping us to bridge that gap between esports and actual, real fighting in terms of boxing and what we can deliver. I think it opens up a different avenue of where we can bring new people from outside of esports, and also bring some people from esports to look back at boxing because it is a time-loved sport. MMA obviously is a big sport that people are talking about, but boxing has always been the classic”.[165]
Usyk is an Orthodox Christian. After his fight against Anthony Joshua, he said in an interview, "The only thing I wanted to do with this fight is to give praise to my Lord Jesus Christ and to say that all comes from him."[166]
On 26 February 2022, Usyk urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to call off Russia's invasion of Ukraine that had begun on 24 February.[167] A few days later, Usyk, fellow boxer Vasiliy Lomachenko and Bellator MMA Welterweight Champion Yaroslav Amosov travelled to Ukraine to join the country's territorial defense forces,[168][169][170] although in late March, Usyk left Ukraine to train for his rematch with Anthony Joshua.[171]
In 2022, he became a co-founder and brand ambassador of the Ready to Fight[172] - international blockchain platform, whose mission is to make building a boxing career easier and more accessible by creating effective connections between athletes, managers, agents, doctors and other specialized professionals, as well as sports services, infrastructure and fans.[173]
In 2023, Usyk signed a one-year professional contract with Ukrainian Premier League team FC Polissya Zhytomyr. He was given the number 17.[174] He previously made a substitute appearance for the club in the 76th minute of a 2-1 friendly win over Veres in February 2022.[175] Usyk has stated he intends to play football after he retires from boxing.[176]