Oleksandr Usyk: Profiling Tyson Fury’s next opponent

With Oleksandr Usyk the next opponent for Tyson Fury on 18th May, we profile the Ukrainian’s career and look at how he has got to this point.

Who is Oleksandr Usyk?

The Ukrainian-born southpaw made his professional boxing debut in 2013 and has smashed through opponents ever since. He stands at 6′ 3″ and has a reach of 78”. Usyk, having beaten Anthony Joshua in 2021 and again a year later in 2022, became one of only three boxers to have unified the cruiserweight world titles and become a world heavyweight champion. Usyk boasts a spotless and impressive fight record of 21 wins with 14 of those being by way of knockout. He has boxed a total of 177 rounds in his professional career.

Usyk became the undisputed cruiserweight world champion while dominating the division and was the first boxer to hold all four major world championship titles at cruiserweight. Since moving up to the heavyweight division he’s regarded as a ‘super champion’ and was victorious in his debut fight by means of knockout against Chazz Witherspoon in October 2019 before beating Derek Chisora in October 2020. Since then, he has dismissed former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua on two occasions, and most recently Daniel Dubois in August of 2023.

Cruiserweight glory

Usyk made his professional boxing debut in the cruiserweight division in 2013, knocking out Mexican fighter Felipe Romero in the fifth round. The Ukrainian went on to tear the division apart before winning the WBO cruiserweight title in a unanimous decision against Krzysztof Glowacki in 2016. He then went on to beat Mairis Briedis to earn himself the WBC cruiserweight title.

Before the end of 2018, Usyk wanted to unify all four titles and a fight was announced to do just that. The southpaw travelled to Moscow to face Murat Gassiev. It was here where Usyk gave Gassiev a lesson and boxed rings around him, becoming the first cruiserweight ever to unify all four major titles in the division.

Usyk then went on to find a different challenge and wanted a fight with Tony Bellew. This was to be Bellew’s last fight before retirement and was for all four of the cruiserweight titles. That fight was Usyk’s most well-publicised at the time and the world saw the Ukrainian knock Bellew out in the eighth round. After the fight, Bellew threw praise on the southpaw, saying that he was “the best cruiserweight that ever lived” and warned heavyweights to stay away.

Transition to heavyweight

Since his domination as a cruiserweight, Usyk moved on to the bigger obstacles, vying for glory in boxing’s most popular division, the heavyweights. His opener saw him defeat Chazz Witherspoon in the seventh round, then hunted down Derek Chisora for the WBO Inter-Continental heavyweight title, which he did by way of unanimous decision.

Usyk’s headline fights that consolidated his status in the heavyweight division were his two bouts against Anthony Joshua, from whom he stole the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight titles. A year later, AJ had another stab at the Ukrainian, only for the fight to go against him once again by split decision, with Usyk retaining all four belts as well as picking up the vacant Ring heavyweight title.

A year after that, Daniel Dubois had a go at the belts, but Usyk seemed to be too good for the Brit as he knocked out Dubois inside nine rounds, his first knockout since 2018 with his previous three fights all going the distance. Naturally, Usyk wants to make a statement with his next fight, and who better to do that with than the one and only Gypsy King, Tyson Fury.

Usyk v Fury

As it happens, both fighters sit alongside one another in the betting at 10/11, with neither of them willing to give up their unblemished records. Fury has fought a whopping 35 times, and has only come away with one disappointing draw, with the rest of them ending in a win, 24 of them by way of knockout.

The punters believe the fight will go the distance having been backed into 2/5, with the alternative out at 7/4. Given their respective knockout records, it’s by no means ruled out that one will be left slumped on the canvas after a devastating blow, however, with 387 rounds of experience between them they have more than proven that they are capable of taking a few big hits.

Should the fight go the distance, Tyson Fury is actually slightly shorter at 13/8 to win on points, meanwhile Usyk is inches behind at 7/4. Should the fight be called a draw, something that Usyk has never experienced, the price of 16/1 is justified.

Check out all the latest boxing betting odds at William Hill