The moment of truth is about to come. On May 18, Oleksandr Usyk will step into the ring at the Kingdom Arena, in Riyadh, to face Britain’s Tyson Fury, with the mission of claiming the only belt missing from his record.
In the main event of the Riyadh Season’s Ring Of Fire program, the Ukrainian aims to complete his spectacular ascent to the Olympus of boxing, to become the first heavyweight fighter in a quarter of a century to hold all the belts of the division.
Not bad for that teenager who dreamed of a future on the soccer field. Born in Simferopol, Crimea on January 17, 1987, Usyk trained as a soccer player in his hometown club until 2002, when his path changed.
Oleksandr would try his luck in boxing, with such quality that he would soon make his way to the national team of his country. Thanks to his talent, he won Olympic qualification at heavyweight, making his debut at the Beijing Games in 2008, where he reached the quarterfinals.
In 2011, Usyk was crowned heavyweight champion at the World Amateur Boxing Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan, and in 2012, he achieved Olympic glory, winning gold at the London Games.
Usyk compiled an impressive record of 335 wins and 15 losses in his meteoric amateur career.
In 2013 he would begin his professional career, under the legendary Klitschko brothers. After nine wins by KO, Usyk would achieve the title opportunity in the cruiserweight division, in 2016, defeating by unanimous decision the then WBO champion, the Polish Krzysztof Głowacki.
In 2018 he would reach the consecration in the World Boxing Super Series, defeating Mairis Briedis for the WBC title in January; and prevailing with a superb boxing demonstration against Murat Gassiev, conquering the IBF, The Ring and WBA Super belts, in addition to the WBSS Ali Trophy. Usyk was undisputed cruiserweight champion, that led him to win the WBA Boxer of the Year recognition.
In 2019, the Ukrainian moved up to the heavyweight division only to continue his blistering pace. In just his third fight in the premier division in September 2021, he snatched the IBF, WBO, IBO and WBA Super World titles from Anthony Joshua, which he has retained to this day.
None has been able to defeat Usyk in 21 fights. He defeated 14 boxers by KO. His power, style, defense and technique have earned him a place in boxing’s pound-for-pound rankings.
And at 37, Usyk, the first undisputed Ukrainian boxer, sits at the table with the mythical brothers Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko, and Vasiliy Lomachenko, as the greatest boxers of all time in his country.
One more win, and he will also confirm his place in the cream of the great heavyweights of history.
