60 Facts About Usyk

Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Usyk is a Ukrainian professional boxer.

Usyk is a world champion in two weight classes, having held the unified WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight titles since 2021, The Ring magazine heavyweight title since 2022, and the undisputed cruiserweight title from 2018 to 2019, being the first cruiserweight champion to hold all four major world titles.

Usyk is widely regarded as one of the greatest Ukrainian boxers of all time.

Usyk turned professional in 2013 and won the undisputed cruiserweight championship in his 15th professional fight in 2018.

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.

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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.

Usyk vacated his cruiserweight titles in 2019 to move up to heavyweight.

Usyk is ranked as the best heavyweight by TBRB, BoxRec and ESPN.

Usyk was born in Simferopol, Crimean Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union on 17 January 1987, to parents originally from northern Ukraine.

Usyk's mother was born in the Chernihiv region, while his father was a native of Sumy.

Usyk's mother worked in construction and moved to Simferopol to study.

Usyk's father was a military man who passed through Afghanistan, working as a security guard in Crimea, and the two met there.

Usyk is the first born of his family and he has two siblings.

Usyk is a graduate of Lviv State University of Physical Culture.

Usyk then moved up to light-heavyweight later and won the Strandja Cup in 2008.

Usyk dropped down to light-heavyweight and won gold at the 2008 European Championships, but later moved back up to heavyweight.

Usyk retired from amateur boxing with a record of 335-15.

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.

On 9 November 2013 Usyk made his professional debut by defeating Mexican fighter Felipe Romero via a fifth-round knockout.

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.

Usyk defended the title two months later, stopping 35 year old Danie Venter in the ninth-round.

Usyk was ahead on all three judges' scorecards at the time of stoppage.

Usyk made another defence on 18 April 2015, against former Russian cruiserweight champion Andrey Knyazev in Kyiv.

In 29 August 2015, Usyk defeated former South African light heavyweight champion Johnny Muller via third-round TKO at the Sport Palace in Kyiv, which saw Usyk control the fight with a jab.

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.

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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.

Usyk dominated the fight with his footwork, superior hand speed and spearing jab, injuring Glowacki's eye early in the fight, causing a cut that continued to bleed for the remainder of the contest.

Usyk announced he would be making his American debut on the Bernard Hopkins vs Joe Smith Jr.

The pace picked up after the first couple of rounds when Usyk began breaking down Mchunu with his trademark, accurate combinations.

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.

CompuBox statistics showed that Usyk landed 163 of 517 punches thrown, and Mchunu landed 76 of his 278 .

K2 Promotions announced that Usyk would be returning to regular HBO to defend his cruiserweight world title in April 2017.

On 12 February 2017, 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.

Bob Arum announced that 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 .

On 1 July 2015, Usyk finally announced that he would join fellow cruiserweights Mairis Briedis, Murat Gassiev, Yuniel Dorticos, Marco Huck and Krzysztof Wlodarczyk in the eight-man bracket style tournament, due to start in September 2017.

At the Draft Gala, Usyk, who had first pick, chose to fight former WBO champion Marco Huck .

On fight night, Usyk used his footwork and combination punching to cruise to a TKO win.

In round 8, Usyk tripped on Huck's feet and Huck lost a point on the scorecards as he threw a punch at Usyk when the latter was down.

Usyk continued to land combinations with little to no response from Huck until referee Robert Byrd stopped the fight in the tenth-round.

Usyk moved on to the final of the tournament after defeating Briedis via majority decision.

The opening four rounds were closely contested, with Usyk receiving a cut over his right eye from an accidental clash of heads in the third round.

From round five, Usyk became busier and took control of the fight, although he was still hit with some hard shots to the head from Briedis.

On 16 April, it was reported that Usyk had suffered an elbow injury during training, pushing the final to possibly June or July 2018.

Usyk quickly took control of the fight, moving rapidly and using his "beautiful, commandeering jab".

Usyk controlled the fight, not allowing Gassiev to use his power.

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Usyk dominated throughout, landing 252 of 939 thrown punches, compared to Gassiev's 91 landed of 313 thrown .

Usyk used his superior conditioning to finish the fight, increasing his output by landing 47 of 117 punches thrown in round 12.

Usyk managed to withstand the 32 power body shots he received and continued to move around the ring.

On 5 September, the WBA ordered 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.

On fight night, 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.

Usyk began using his jab more and after landing an overhand left, Bellew was left slightly shaken.

In round 8, whilst in a neutral corner, Usyk landed a hard left, again buzzing Bellew, forcing him to move away against the ropes.

Usyk had the option to challenge the winner of the rematch between Andy Ruiz Jr.

Usyk won the fight as Witherspoon retired in his corner after round 7.

On 11 March 2020 it was announced that Usyk would fight former world title challenger Derek Chisora on 23 May 2020 at The O2 Arena in London.

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.

On 19 June 2022, it was officially announced that Usyk would be facing Joshua in a rematch in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on 20 August.

Usyk's wife has Russian citizenship and the boxer uses Russian as his first language.

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.

On 26 February 2022, Usyk urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to call off Russia's invasion of Ukraine that had begun on 24 February.