Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Usyk is a Ukrainian professional boxer. He was born on 17 January, 1987 in Simferopol, Crimean Oblast, Soviet Union.
Until age 15, Usyk played association football and was trained at the SC Tavriya Simferopol specialized sport school of Olympic reserve.
Usyk is a graduate of Lviv State University of Physical Culture. He switched from football to boxing in 2002.
In 2006 European Championships, Usyk won his first three matches but lost in the semi final to Matvey Korbov.
In 2008, Usyk won the Strandja Cup. In Feb 2008, he defeated world class Azeri Elchin Alizade and Daniel Price. He won gold at the 2008 European Championships.
In 2011 World Amateur Boxing Championships Usyk defeated Artur Beterbieve and Teymur Mammadov to win the heavyweight title and qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Usyk won the gold medal at the 2012 Olympic games in London. He turned pro in late 2013 at the age of 26 signed a promotional deal with the Klitschko brothers’ K2 Promotions.
Usyk is a world champion in two weight classes, having held the unified WBA (Super), IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight titles since defeating Anthony Joshua in 2021.
As of June 2022, Usyk is ranked as the World’s Second Best active boxer, pound for pound, by The Ring and the TBRB, third by BWAA, fifth by BoxRec and sixth by ESPN.
Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua is a British professional boxer. He is a two time former unified world heavyweight champion.
On Sunday, Usyk took a second consecutive victory over Anthony Joshua to defend his unified WBO, WBA and IBF world heavyweight titles over the course of an epic 12 round battle.
The fight was closely contested through the first six rounds. Joshua started to break through in the ninth, but Usyk raised the tempo in astonishing fashion in the next round.