Oleksandr Usyk

Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Usyk (Ukrainian: Олександр Олександрович Усик; 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. 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.

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