How Oleksandr Usyk built a legendary resume comparable to Hall of Famer Evander Holyfield

Boxing is a sport that constantly fights against your worst instincts. Still, there have been few periods in recent memory when boxing has been in a better position from a competitive standpoint. There are several great fighters, several with legitimate claims to the top spot on the pound-for-pound lists, and high-quality fights are occurring at a much more regular pace than in recent years. Oleksandr Usyk took advantage of this new normal to establish himself as a historically great fighter.

Usyk capped his rise to greatness last Saturday when he scored a thrilling victory over Tyson Fury to remain undefeated and become the first undisputed heavyweight champion of the four-belt era. Usyk joined Naoya Inoue and Terence Crawford as the only male fighters at the time to become undisputed in two different weight classes, having also won all four cruiserweight belts in 2018.

Before turning professional, Usyk had already accomplished a list of impressive feats. He won the 2008 European Championship in the light heavyweight category, the 2011 World Amateur Boxing Championship in the heavyweight category, competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics, and won gold at the 2012 Olympics. Usyk had a 335-15 record as amateur before entering the professional ranks.

Historically looking at any boxer’s standing always includes a considerable amount of personal opinion. There is, however, a direct comparison to another legendary wrestler and Hall of Famer that can be made.

Evander Holyfield was also an undisputed cruiserweight and heavyweight champion in his career, at a time when the WBC, WBA and IBF titles were the recognized world championships.

Similar to Usyk, Holyfield also had a tremendous amateur career. In fact, Holyfield could have won gold at the 1984 Olympics if not for a bizarre situation that saw Holyfield land a punch that led to the referee counting out Kevin Barry before disqualifying Holyfield on the grounds that he threw a punch on the counter, despite the referee not being anywhere near the fighters when the punch landed. Holyfield had to settle for bronze at the games, but gold medalist Anton Josipovic, who won the tournament when Barry was not allowed to compete in the finals, chose to share the podium with Holyfield.

Holyfield began his professional career with a brief stint at light heavyweight before moving up to the cruiserweight division. Holyfield won the contest before defeating Hall of Famer Dwight Muhammad Qawi by split decision in the 12th fight of Holyfield’s career to win the WBA cruiserweight title. Four fights later, and having added the IBF title to his collection, Holyfield faced Qawi again and was stopped in the fourth round before an eight-round stoppage of another Hall of Famer, Carlos De Leon, to win the WBC title and stay indisputable.

Usyk’s notable victories

Usyk’s cruiserweight run had already created a debate centered around Holyfield, with the two clearly standing out as the two greatest cruiserweights of all time, even with De Leon having four reigns as world champion in the division.

Usyk defeated Krzysztof Głowacki in his 10th professional fight to win the WBO title. After two title defenses, Usyk took a big risk and joined the World Boxing Super Series, an eight-man tournament that included all four world cruiserweight champions. In the tournament, Usyk defeated Marco Huck (a former world champion with 13 successful title defenses), WBC champion Mairis Briedis and WBA and IBF champion Murat Gassiev to emerge from a deep and dangerous field as undisputed cruiserweight champion .

Usyk would score one final victory at cruiserweight, a stoppage of Tony Bellew, before making the jump to heavyweight.

At heavyweight, Usyk now holds three combined victories over two of the best fighters of the time, Anthony Joshua and Fury, defeating Joshua to win the WBA, IBF and WBO titles, remaining in the rematch and going undisputed with his victory over Fury. Usyk has also done his job in recent years by dealing with the ongoing Russian invasion of his native Ukraine, a conflict in which Usyk briefly took up arms to defend his homeland.

Speaking of Ukraine, Usyk has been a consummate road warrior, not fighting in Ukraine since his ninth professional fight. Usyk has never fought for a world title in his home country. In fact, in most of his biggest fights, Usyk has had to travel to his opponent’s home country, which was the case when he defeated Glowacki, Huck, Briedis, Gassiev, Bellew and Joshua. The Fury fight, held in Saudi Arabia, was the only time Usyk won the world title in a country that was not his opponent’s territory.

The modern heavyweight field isn’t as deep as the one Holyfield had to navigate. But Usyk’s skills and proof that he can overcome much bigger and more powerful men like Joshua and Fury show that he could have competed in the same deep waters that Holyfield had to swim in.

Putting Usyk in mythical matchups with men Holyfield faced at heavyweight is an intriguing thought experiment.

Could Usyk have stood up to faded versions of George Foreman (three years before Foreman shockingly won the WBA and IBF titles at age 45) and Larry Holmes? How would he have fared against Riddick Bowe, who gave Holyfield hell in their trilogy of fights? What about Michael Moorer, who split two fights with Holyfield? How would Usyk vs. Mike Tyson have performed in the “Bite Fight” era? And would Usyk’s success against taller, stronger men have produced similar success against Lennox Lewis?

After what we’ve seen Usyk do over the last few years, it’s hard to argue that all those mountains he couldn’t have climbed. This is true even though boxing fans tend to always consider fighters from previous eras to be better and tougher than those of the current crop.

At 37 years old, time is not on Usyk’s side to build a lengthy heavyweight resume that stands alongside the likes of the greatest heavyweights of all time. But it’s what a fighter has achieved that really matters. And Usyk has already done enough to establish him as a great fighter of all time, undoubtedly the best pound for pound in the world right now, and a surefire first-ballot Hall of Famer.

Everything Usyk does from here on out is icing on the cake. And that cherry on top starts with a likely rematch with Fury and the chance to further Usyk’s legacy.