Oleksandr Usyk

Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Usyk (Олекса́ндр Олекса́ндрович У́сик; born 17 January 1987) is a Ukrainian professional boxer.

He has held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the unified heavyweight titles since 2021, and the Ring magazine title since 2022.

He has also held the International Boxing Organization (IBO) title since 2021.

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), while his father was a native of Sumy.

His mother worked in construction and moved to Simferopol to study.

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.

Until age 15, he played football and was trained at the SC Tavriya Simferopol specialized sports school of Olympic reserve (club's football academy).

In 2002 Usyk switched to boxing.

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

At the 2006 European Championships he won his first three matches but lost in the semi-final to Matvey Korobov.

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

In February 2008, he moved up another weight class and was sent to the Olympic qualifier in Roseto degli Abruzzi replacing European Champion Denys Poyatsyka.

There he defeated world class Azeri Elchin Alizade and Daniel Price.

At the 2008 Olympic Games, Usyk outpointed Yushan Nijiati by 23–4, but lost to Clemente Russo by 4–7 in the quarter-final.

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

As an amateur, Usyk won heavyweight gold medals at the 2011 World Championships and 2012 Olympics.

At the 2011 World Amateur Boxing Championships he defeated Artur Beterbiev and Teymur Mammadov to win the heavyweight title and qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

At the 2012 Olympic Games in London, Usyk won the gold medal, outpointing Artur Beterbiev, Tervel Pulev and Italy's Clemente Russo, outscoring him by 6–3 in the final.

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

Prior to turning professional, he competed in the heavyweight division (91+ kg) of the 2012–13 World Series of Boxing (WSB), as part of team Ukraine Otamans, winning all six of his bouts with two by stoppage (Junior Fa by UD, Eric Brechlin by 3rd-round TKO, Joe Joyce by UD, Magomedrasul Majidov by UD, Matteo Modugno by 2nd-round TKO and Mihai Nistor by UD).

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.

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.

The following month he stopped 38 year old Epifanio Mendoza in four rounds.

Previously, he held the undisputed cruiserweight championship from 2018 to 2019, being the first boxer in that division to hold all four major world titles.

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.

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).

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, second by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board (TBRB), third by BWAA, fifth by BoxRec and sixth by ESPN.

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