Oleksandr Usyk

Lore & Background

As an amateur, Usyk won heavyweight gold medals at the 2011 World Championships and 2012 Olympics while accumulating a record of 335 wins and 15 losses. He turned professional in 2013, winning his first world title in 2016. By winning the undisputed cruiserweight championship in 2018 at the conclusion of the World Boxing Super Series tournament, Usyk became the first Ukrainian undisputed champion in history. In 2021, Usyk defeated unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua to win the WBA, IBF, and WBO titles. In May 2024, Usyk defeated Tyson Fury to claim the WBC title and the undisputed championship in his second weight class, one of only three boxers to do so in the four-belt era. In July 2025, he knocked out Daniel Dubois to become two-time undisputed heavyweight champion, becoming only the second boxer to do so after Muhammad Ali.

In Their Own Story

The London arena hummed with tension as the bell rang for round one. Usyk stood calm in his corner, adjusting gloves that had carried him from amateur glory to world dominance. He stepped into the center, not with aggression, but with a dancer's grace, ready to dissect the giant before him.

Reader's Guide

Usyk was the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis was stripped of the title on 12 April 2000, and is the first and only cruiserweight and heavyweight boxer in history to hold the world titles of all four major sanctioning bodies—the World Boxing Association (WBA) (Super title), World Boxing Council (WBC), International Boxing Federation (IBF), and World Boxing Organization (WBO)—in the four-belt era. He previously held the undisputed cruiserweight championship from 2018 to 2019, and is the first boxer to become the undisputed champion in these two weight classes since Evander Holyfield in 1990. The Ring and the Boxing Writers Association of America named Usyk their Fighter of the Year in 2018 and 2024.

Did You Know?

• Usyk won Olympic gold at the 2012 London Games, not 2008.
• His amateur record was 335 wins and 15 losses, totaling 350 fights.
• He is the first male boxer to become a three-time undisputed champion in the four-belt era.
• In February 2025, Sportico ranked Usyk at No. 7 among the highest-paid athletes of 2024, with an estimated income of $122 million.