Oleksandr Usyk begins 2025 at the pinnacle of boxing. The Ukrainian has achieved everything since his second win against Tyson Fury shortly before Christmas. Plea for a glorious retreat.
At the turn of the year, fistfighting scholars are discussing the question of whether Oleksandr Usyk is the greatest boxer in history after his second triumph over Tyson Fury. The GOAT, Greatest of All Time.
Well, the title may forever be reserved for Muhammad Ali and anyway the question of who is the greatest is moot. There were (and are) simply too many noble warriors who, over the course of two centuries, have found the grail of the supposedly ultimate pugilist.
The easier question to answer is whether this Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Usyk isn’t simply the most likeable champion boxing has ever seen.
“Today is a very happy day for me,” said the 37-year-old immediately after he had once again defeated the 2.06-meter-tall, almost 130-kilogram boxing colossus Fury on December 21st in Riyadh. No wonder, given the monumental success, Usyk didn’t really think much about himself.
“My two boys also won a competition today – in judo,” he told the world full of fatherly pride. The green and orange belts of his sons were at least as important to Usyk as the glittering belts of the world boxing associations WBA, WBC and WBO, which the Ukrainian defended over twelve rounds.
Usyk has “played through” boxing
Usyk said at the subsequent press conference that he now wanted to switch off and turn off his phone. He has only seen his ten-month-old daughter Maria for two months because of the strenuous and time-consuming training camps. Go home, play with the children, sit down, lean back “and look at the sky”.
In front of the world champion sat a gray stuffed bunny, a talisman from his older daughter. Usyk, who Fury once mocked as a “rabbit,” and the long-eared plush companion – a symbiosis of happiness.
There is no question that it has been a long time since there has been such a grounded, humble master of all boxing classes. One question: what now, Oleksandr Usyk?
If boxing were a video game, the Ukrainian national hero would have played it. 2011 amateur world champion, 2012 Olympic champion, 2018 undisputed cruiserweight world champion (up to 90.72 kilograms), 2024 undisputed heavyweight world champion. Two victories each over the British giants Anthony Joshua (2021/22) and Tyson Fury, plus the success against today’s IBF world champion Daniel Dubois (2023).
Oleksandr Usyk on the trail of Rocky Marciano
Usyk has taken care of. The two-parter against Joshua and Fury put hundreds of millions of dollars into his account. Part of it goes to Usyk’s foundation, which helps suffering compatriots back home. This is another reason why the boxer is an icon. He no longer has to fight in the ring. But apparently he wants it.
“I can more,” Usyk announced in Saudi Arabia in his broken, almost iconic English. Another duel with Dubois, who burst into his victory interview in Riyadh without being asked and clumsily demanded revenge? “No problem!”
Usyk doesn’t have a problem yet. Still. On February 17th, Muhammad Ali’s birthday, the gifted southpaw will be 38 years old. No boxer has ever stood the test of time. Unlike Ali, Usyk has the chance to descend flawlessly from the summit. Finishing undefeated – only the legendary Rocky Marciano, who entered the ring in 1955 with a record of 49-0, has ever achieved this in the heavyweight division Arrividerci said. Usyk is 23-0 (after an incredible 335 wins as an amateur).
Muhammad Ali as a cautionary example
So maybe after the second triumph against Fury, Usyk shouldn’t take the historic chance and call it a day? “It’s very difficult to judge from the outside,” says boxing expert Bernd Bönte in an interview sport.de. “Whether you have the guts at the climax to say, ‘That’s it.’ “It’s only the really big ones in the heavyweight division who have achieved this – absolute legends,” Bönte recalls, alongside Marciano, Lennox Lewis and Vitali Klitschko, who retired as world champions. The list of those who climbed out of the rope area too late is longer.
“Unfortunately, the greatest of all, Muhammad Ali, and the second greatest, in my opinion, Joe Louis, didn’t make it,” says the Klitschko brothers’ long-time manager, listing perhaps the most tragic examples.
Louis, ruler of the heavyweight division for 11 years, was shattered like a windfall by the up-and-coming Marciano in 1951 at the age of 37. At 38, Ali received a terrible beating from his former sparring partner Larry Holmes. It is said that Marciano and Holmes cried in the dressing room afterwards – that was how much it pained them to have beaten up their idols.
When Oleksandr Usyk defeated Daniel Dubois, who was ten years his junior, last year, he encouraged the desperate-looking Brit. “Daniel, you are young. You can. You can dream,” the master said to the apprentice. Dubois has since celebrated three victories. In September, the 27-year-old knocked out superstar Joshua and grabbed the IBF belt, which Usyk had previously voluntarily relinquished.
Is Usyk coming against Dubois II now?
So is the potential heir to the throne the heavyweight king’s final challenge? Despite his victory two years ago? Dubois defends his title on February 22 against New Zealand’s Joseph Parker. If the knockout specialist wins, he will scream even louder for revenge.
“Knowing Usyk a little, I could imagine him saying: Resign once again as the undisputed world champion with all four championship belts,” Bönte ventures a cautious outlook. “I can already see Wembley Stadium. And the first fight against Dubois certainly left question marks. That would be another sensational story that could be told there.”
What Bönte means: Dubois had sent Usyk to the boards with a right body hook in Breslau. A rare sight, but the referee rated the action as a low blow and gave Usyk time to recover. The decision – although correct – outraged many, especially in England. Dubois and promoter Frank Warren even spoke of “robbery” and fraud.
“Your Excellency,” Usyk said to Saudi boxing mogul Turki Al-Sheikh in Riyadh’s Kingdom Arena as Dubois drove into the parade. “Make me fight Daniel Dubois.”
“The money and the fear of being hit,” said German boxing legend Bubi Scholz once when asked what drove him to box. With Joe Louis it was the money. With Muhammad Ali, the fear – although more of withdrawal. Many great boxers fell into a hole when the big stage was gone. Very few of them were as solid as Usyk.
“Oleksandr the Great” has the chance for the biggest coup in 2025. What he has to do is “just” stop putting on the boxing gloves.