Oleksandr Usyk is better at this game than you, and you, and you and you. Oleksandr Usyk is better than everyone. Heavyweight boxing has a new king, a new all-time great. He calls himself “The Cat” and racks up quite a baggage bill.
For nine months, he only thought about Tyson Fury. For nine months all he did was plan for the devious 6ft 9in, 19 stone monster who stood between him and undisputed heavyweight glory. He missed his children’s birthdays, he missed the birth of his daughter, he missed family vacations. And how his sacrifices were rewarded.
“Do this. Do this. Do this. Work. Run. Box. Eat. Sleep. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Look, I’m not a kid,” Usyk joked during his press conference post-fight, recalling his strict training regime in preparation for Saturday’s fight.
A farcical monologue of noises and cartoon imitations became a release of joy, relief and perhaps closure for a man who dedicated his life to achieving the ultimate goal of boxing. The unflappable, steely-eyed professor of his profession might finally let his guard down for good, literally and metaphorically.
Usyk had just withstood a storm of body shots from Fury, was another 10 seconds away from knocking out the Gypsy King and outpointed the undefeated WBC champion to become the first undisputed heavyweight ruler of the four-belt era.
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A look back at the moment Usyk knocked down Fury in the ninth round with the British fighter saved by the bell.
Riyadh and the world were treated to a clinic from both men: Fury’s elite opening jab to control distance off the back foot, followed by diving body shots to pierce his opponent’s vulnerability, and hooks Beautifully disguised lefts from Usyk coupled with lightning bolts. counters and a superb ninth-round assault that embodied the best of his devastating precision and clinical power.
The optics of the size difference were intimidating, only to be erased by Usyk and the courage of a forefoot approach that rarely looked like an escape. He pressed Fury, harassed Fury, ate nasty uppercuts for his troubles, dropped rounds in the process and put down with some of the most impactful closing minutes of championship boxing in recent memory.
Fury had immediately resorted to showboating in an attempt to derail Usyk’s composure, with the Ukrainian responding by taking two or three steps back, smiling at his opponent’s antics and reassessing his task. Any temptation to get sucked into an emotional trap was gone. In fact, this was the case for much of the preparation.
With the pressure at an all-time high, the 37-year-old did it his way. He hadn’t come this far not to do it.
People will have their own introduction to Usyk’s story. It could have been his gold medal at the 2012 Olympics in London, where he beat knockout machine Artur Beterbiev, warning of his potential for greatness. This could have been due to his amateur record of 355-15 as he progressed to the professional ranks. This may have been the period in which he defeated Marco Huck, Mairis Briedis and Murat Gassiev in their home countries to become undisputed cruiserweight champion. For many, it might have been the most brutal coup de grace to stop Tony Bellew in Manchester in 2018. For others, it became the unanimous decision to win sharing the ring with another familiar face in Derek Chisora in 2020.
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Usyk became emotional after his victory over Fury as he explained how much he missed having his late father by his side while boxing.
The story traveled quickly. A sleight of hand with fearsome footwork, elite IQ, and perfect balance of offense and defense, hurtling toward heavyweight title contention with dreams of disruption and ambitions to nestle among the icons of history.
How good was he really? Anthony Joshua found out just how good he was when he came face to face with a unanimous decision victory from Usyk at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in September 2021, with another visit to the UK seeing the Ukrainian this time walk away with the WBA titles, IBF and WBO in its most significant step yet towards undisputed.
Usyk escaped a lucrative rematch with Joshua when Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022. He returned to his home country to enlist in the Territorial Defense Forces and take up arms. When he was cleared to return to boxing, he rose to the occasion with style and determination, handling a fierce effort from Joshua to win clearly. Even then, a vastly improved performance from the Olympic champion would be negated by Usyk’s technical supremacy.
Fury’s path to undisputed status began in 2015 when he stripped Wladimir Klitschko of the unified WBO, WBA and IBF titles in Dusseldorf, before stepping away from the ring for more than two years due to mental health issues. .
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Usyk reacts by becoming undisputed world champion
He would return in 2018 after a monumental weight cut to face WBC beltholder Deontay Wilder in a Las Vegas epic that controversially ended in a draw, before convincingly stopping the American in of the 2020 rematch. A trilogy fight soon arrived, with Fury settling things for good by knocking out Wilder in the 11th round in another blockbuster contest.
Next it was Dillian Whyte in an emphatic homecoming at the UK’s Wembley Stadium, then it was a third fight against Chisora, before Fury brushed aside the career upset after being knocked down in a match against former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou. Eventually, Usyk was on the horizon, but not before a few postponements, the latter of which was due to a cut to Fury’s eye suffered during a fight.
Usyk would emerge as the quintessential proposition and test of Fury’s guile, whose teasing feints had now been bolstered by the knockout contact cultivated by SugarHill Steward and his Kronk philosophies. And likewise, Fury represented the benchmark moment for Usyk’s journey at heavyweight, the defining examination of how his skills had translated through the weights. The two were destined to collide, you could say it had been for some time.
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Fury disagrees with the split decision outcome and insisted he wants a rematch against champion Usyk.
It was the moment for Usyk and for Ukraine. The pizazz of Usyk the artist is matched only by the valor of Usyk the warrior, culminating in wealth. Fury demanded the best Usyk. He asked Usyk to dig deeper than ever mentally and work harder than ever physically, and Usyk found the answer.
As the final bell rang, Fury embraced his counterpart and kissed his head as a sign of respect. He knew he had dated a grown-up.
The dreams of his predecessors having transformed heavyweight sovereignty into boxing immortality. The model of boxing cinema is the conquest of heavyweights. A common starting point for aspiring fighters is the fear of heavy destruction. At the heart of boxing history is heavyweight magnificence, heavyweight controversy, heavyweight drama. Fix this, and you will be remembered forever.
Riddick Bowe and his trash, Spinks and his shocks, Jack Dempsey and his million dollar gate, Muhammad Ali and his greatness. Usyk is now the new face of boxing’s most legendary storyline.
He becomes a unique addition to the heavyweight pantheon. A different type of character, armed with a different type of skills than might have been prevalent throughout the story. A boxer will speak and quote for years to come.
