Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Usyk is a Ukrainian professional boxer.
62 Facts About Oleksandr Usyk
2.
Oleksandr Usyk has held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the unified WBA, IBF, and WBO heavyweight titles since 2021, and the Ring magazine heavyweight title since 2022.
3.
Oleksandr Usyk turned professional in 2013 and won the undisputed cruiserweight championship in his 15th professional fight in 2018.
4.
In 2018 Oleksandr 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.
5.
Oleksandr Usyk 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.
6.
Oleksandr Usyk vacated his cruiserweight titles in 2019 to move up to heavyweight.
7.
In September 2021, Oleksandr Usyk defeated unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua by unanimous decision to become the new heavyweight champion of the world.
8.
Oleksandr Usyk defended his WBA, WBO and IBF championship belts in August 2022, by defeating Joshua in the rematch in Jeddah.
9.
Oleksandr Usyk is ranked as the best heavyweight by TBRB, BoxRec and ESPN.
10.
Oleksandr Usyk was born in Simferopol, Crimean Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union on 17 January 1987, to parents originally from northern Ukraine.
11.
Oleksandr Usyk's mother was born in the Chernihiv region, while his father was a native of Sumy.
12.
Oleksandr Usyk's mother worked in construction and moved to Simferopol to study.
13.
Oleksandr Usyk's father was a military man who passed through Afghanistan, working as a security guard in Crimea, and the two met there.
14.
Oleksandr Usyk is the first born of his family and he has two siblings.
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Oleksandr Usyk is a graduate of Lviv State University of Physical Culture.
16.
Oleksandr Usyk then moved up to light-heavyweight later and won the Strandja Cup in 2008.
17.
Oleksandr Usyk dropped down to light-heavyweight and won gold at the 2008 European Championships, but later moved back up to heavyweight.
18.
Oleksandr 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.
19.
On 9 November 2013 Oleksandr Usyk made his professional debut by defeating Mexican fighter Felipe Romero via a fifth-round knockout.
20.
Oleksandr Usyk won his first title on 4 October 2014, after beating South African boxer Daniel Bruwer via seventh-round technical knockout for the interim WBO Inter-Continental cruiserweight title.
21.
Oleksandr Usyk defended the title two months later, stopping 35 year old Danie Venter in the ninth-round.
22.
Oleksandr Usyk was ahead on all three judges' scorecards at the time of stoppage.
23.
Oleksandr Usyk made another defence on 18 April 2015, against former Russian cruiserweight champion Andrey Knyazev in Kyiv.
24.
In 29 August 2015, Oleksandr Usyk defeated former South African light heavyweight champion Johnny Muller via third-round TKO at the Sport Palace in Kyiv, which saw Oleksandr Usyk control the fight with a jab.
25.
Oleksandr Usyk knocked down Muller twice in round three and although Muller protested, the referee waved the fight off with one second of the round left.
26.
Oleksandr Usyk won the fight scoring, his ninth straight knockout in as many fights, first dropping Rodriguez in round six with an uppercut before the fight was stopped in round seven, being knocked down again, although he beat the count.
27.
Oleksandr Usyk announced he would be making his American debut on the Bernard Hopkins vs Joe Smith Jr.
28.
The pace picked up after the first couple of rounds when Oleksandr Usyk began breaking down Mchunu with his trademark, accurate combinations.
29.
Oleksandr Usyk scored a knockdown in the sixth round, and a further two more in the ninth, causing referee Lou Moret to wave off the fight at 2:53 of round 9.
30.
CompuBox statistics showed that Oleksandr Usyk landed 163 of 517 punches thrown, and Mchunu landed 76 of his 278.
31.
K2 Promotions announced that Oleksandr Usyk would be returning to regular HBO to defend his cruiserweight world title in April 2017.
32.
On 12 February 2017, Oleksandr Usyk announced that he had parted ways with long time trainer James Ali Bashir and replaced him with Vasiliy Lomachenko's father and trainer, Anatoly Lomachenko.
33.
Bob Arum announced that Oleksandr Usyk would be part of a triple header including Vasiliy Lomachenko at the MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland, on 8 April 2017 against Michael Hunter.
34.
Oleksandr Usyk weighed 199.4 whilst Hunter came in at 199 pounds.
35.
In front of a sold-out crowd of 2,828, where there was majority Ukrainian fans in attendance, Oleksandr Usyk was taken the distance for the second time in his career and won a rather one-sided unanimous decision to retain his WBO title.
36.
At the Draft Gala, Oleksandr Usyk, who had first pick, chose to fight former WBO champion Marco Huck.
37.
On fight night, Oleksandr Usyk used his footwork and combination punching to cruise to a TKO win.
38.
On top of his dominant performance, Oleksandr Usyk taunted Huck throughout the fight.
39.
In round 8, Oleksandr Usyk tripped on Huck's feet and Huck lost a point on the scorecards as he threw a punch at Oleksandr Usyk when the latter was down.
40.
Oleksandr Usyk continued to land combinations with little to no response from Huck until referee Robert Byrd stopped the fight in the tenth-round.
41.
Oleksandr Usyk came in at 199.5 pounds and Briedis weighed 199.1 pounds.
42.
Oleksandr Usyk moved on to the final of the tournament after defeating Briedis via majority decision.
43.
The opening four rounds were closely contested, with Oleksandr Usyk receiving a cut over his right eye from an accidental clash of heads in the third round.
44.
From round five, Oleksandr Usyk became busier and took control of the fight, although he was still hit with some hard shots to the head from Briedis.
45.
On 16 April, it was reported that Oleksandr Usyk had suffered an elbow injury during training, pushing the final to possibly June or July 2018.
46.
Oleksandr Usyk quickly took control of the fight, moving rapidly and using his "beautiful, commandeering jab".
47.
Oleksandr Usyk controlled the fight, not allowing Gassiev to use his power.
48.
Oleksandr Usyk dominated throughout, landing 252 of 939 thrown punches, compared to Gassiev's 91 landed of 313 thrown.
49.
Oleksandr Usyk used his superior conditioning to finish the fight, increasing his output by landing 47 of 117 punches thrown in round 12.
50.
Oleksandr Usyk managed to withstand the 32 power body shots he received and continued to move around the ring.
51.
On 5 September, the WBA ordered Oleksandr Usyk to start negotiating with Denis Lebedev, who was their 'champion in recess' and gave them until the first week of October 2018 to complete negotiations.
52.
On fight night, Oleksandr Usyk, who is usually a slow starter, eventually took full control of the bout and stopped Bellew in round 8 to retain all the cruiserweight belts.
53.
Oleksandr Usyk began using his jab more and after landing an overhand left, Bellew was left slightly shaken.
54.
In round 8, whilst in a neutral corner, Oleksandr Usyk landed a hard left, again buzzing Bellew, forcing him to move away against the ropes.
55.
Oleksandr Usyk had the option to challenge the winner of the rematch between Andy Ruiz Jr.
56.
Oleksandr Usyk won the fight as Witherspoon retired in his corner after round 7.
57.
On 11 March 2020 it was announced that Oleksandr Usyk would fight former world title challenger Derek Chisora on 23 May 2020 at The O2 Arena in London.
58.
Oleksandr Usyk revealed his decision to leave his homeland and refocus his efforts on boxing was supported by Mayor of Kyiv and former heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko, as well as his younger brother Wladimir Klitschko, a former heavyweight champion who had been defeated by Anthony Joshua in 2017.
59.
On 19 June 2022, it was officially announced that Oleksandr Usyk would be facing Joshua in a rematch in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on 20 August.
60.
Oleksandr Usyk's wife has Russian citizenship and the boxer uses Russian as his first language.
61.
On 28 April 2014, after the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, Oleksandr Usyk declared he would never exchange his Ukrainian citizenship for Russian citizenship.
62.
On 26 February 2022, Oleksandr Usyk urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to call off Russia's invasion of Ukraine that had begun on 24 February.