Oleksandr Usyk is the best fighter of his generation — even if he doesn't believe so himself

Yahoo

4 days ago

Oleksandr Usyk stood in the center of the ring and snarled.
This wasn't the charming and familiar gap-toothed grin we've become accustomed to from the affable Ukrainian over the past decade, but rather a warning sign to his latest foe, Daniel Dubois. In that mid-round moment last Saturday, Usyk's mouthpiece camouflaged his magnetic personality. It's strictly business in the heat of battle — and the 38-year-old has endured enough of that throughout his life and career to know how to adapt and overcome.
It was as if the front-footed, aggressive advances of Dubois (22-3, 21 KOs) tweaked the settings of Usyk's internal motherboard. No longer was it safe — nor sensible — for the unified heavyweight champion to use his fleet-footed craft and wizardry to slay one of the biggest punchers in the heavyweight division.
Instead, Usyk would have to trade heavy artillery with the Briton. 'Don't punch with a puncher,' they say — but when you possess the infinite tool box the Ukrainian does, catchphrases and slogans aren't worth the paper they are written on.
As soon as that switch was flicked, it was game over. Usyk wound up landing a devastating left hook and conquered Dubois for a second time in two years, and, in doing so, he rubber-stamped his position as a generational great in the sport.
Usyk (24-0, 15 KOs) has now come as close to perfecting his art as possible. A mere glance into the trophy cabinet of the decorated champion will find gold medals from the European Championships, World Championships and Olympic Games, alongside undisputed status as a professional in both the cruiserweight and heavyweight divisions — the latter now being completed twice, thanks to the political tug of war among the four major sanctioning bodies.
And if these accolades weren't proof enough, Usyk has achieved them against a plethora of fighting styles, ranging between the weight classes with the biggest gulf in size — and doing so with variation, adaptation and aplomb.
Since winning his first world title in 2016, Usyk has bested big, concussive punchers in the likes of Murat Gassiev, Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois, routing the former and stopping the latter two twice. He has traveled to the backyards of technicians in Mairis Briedis and Michael Hunter, bamboozling them with skill, yet sitting down on his punches when required, reading the perfect fight and knowing when to put his foot on the gas through tricky periods. He has sent Tony Bellew into retirement and wounded Tyson Fury, making him question his future in the sport, twice, after back-to-back wins in Saudi Arabia.
He has snatched five unbeaten records in world title fights, going 13-0 in championship bouts, and has done so fighting away from his beloved home nation of Ukraine since 2015, as well as coping with the emotional toil of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The list goes on, but Usyk's career won't. He will turn 39 in January and, if he is to be believed, then perhaps we'll only see him grace a boxing ring one more time before hanging up his gloves for good. Talk of whom that final foe might be — Joseph Parker, Agit Kabayel, Derek Chisora and Jake Paul will all argue their corners — can and should wait, for now.
'I'm not the best fighter in the world,' Usyk stated before becoming a three-time undisputed champion this past weekend. 'That is Terence Crawford.' Usyk was lying — or perhaps being modest to a fault.
There is an anti-recency bias in sport — maybe none more so than in boxing. We are often afraid to compare active fighters positively against those who have their names deeply imprinted in the sport's history. There's a perception that in doing so, you are automatically siding with modernity; shunning the legacies and showing a lack of knowledge and understanding of past greats.
Usyk may well be considered on the smaller side of the modern day heavyweights, but standing 6-foot-3, he scales the same height as Muhammad Ali — and there should be no question the Ukrainian would prove a handful for any of the best heavyweights who dominated their own decades. The likes of Ali, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Larry Holmes, George Foreman, Lennox Lewis, Sonny Liston, Joe Frazier, etc., now have a new name jostling for position in the all-time standings.
'I want a rest,' Usyk stated in the post-fight press conference. 'I want to be at home with my family, my wife and my children. I want to rest for maybe two, three months.'
Whatever is next will be Usyk's decision and Usyk's decision only. He has fought with the hearts of a nation weighing heavily on his shoulders and has had his hand raised on every single occasion. There will be a moment when he looks in the mirror and asks himself what he has left to give — or perhaps to prove.
'I don't have motivation. I have discipline,' he continued. 'Motivation? It's temporary. Today, for example, you have motivation. But tomorrow you wake up early and you don't have motivation.'
'Thirty-eight is a young guy, remember!' he then exclaimed, with the trademark twinkle in his eye. But how long does discipline last? Ideally, not so long that Usyk is beaten by the only opponent who will have his number: Father Time.