Oleksandr Usyk may be the reigning WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO heavyweight world champion, but for many the Ukrainian is the underdog heading into his long-awaited title fight with Tyson Fury in Riyadh on Saturday.
Apparently size matters, as southpaw Usyk gives the 2.06 meter (6 ft 9 in) Fury 15 centimeters (6 in) in height, has a reach of 18 cm and weighs almost 22 kg ( 49 pounds).
And yet he is not worried.
“To win this I don’t have to be heavy, I have to be fast, and fast,” he told The Ring magazine in February, shortly before the Fury fight was postponed after the Brit took a break from training.
“You never see a fat wolf in the forest.”
It’s easy to imagine Usyk as the scrawny wolf, cunning, fast and ruthlessly effective.
His perfect record of 21 wins and no losses as a professional, 14 of them within the distance, speaks for itself.
And in addition to those three heavyweight belts, he also has a career that brought him Olympic gold in London in 2012 and the undisputed cruiserweight world title.
Aside from his undisputed pedigree in the ring, he also has the fire within him that a boxer desperately needs once he has reached the comfort of the mountaintop.
FOR THE THRONE 👑
Usyk 🆚 Fury
Undisputed Heavyweight Championship 🏆
Who is your favorite? @RiyadhSeason #Boxing #Boxing #WBA #WBABoxing pic.twitter.com/DOe4FyYRHs
— WBA Boxing (@WBABoxing) May 14, 2024
“Usyk doesn’t fight for himself”
It gave Usyk an added dimension when he faced Anthony Joshua in Jeddah in August that year, almost a year after he won the Brit’s title in London.
“In the ninth round I realized that if I fall now, the spirit of the fighters defending our country will also fall,” he told AFP.
“I didn’t box for myself, I boxed for everyone who defends the country.”
Eighteen months after that battle, the Russians continue to wage war against Ukraine, adding fuel to the Usyk fire.
In some ways it marks a change in perception of the 37-year-old, who also defeated Daniel Dubois in Poland last August.
Born in the Crimean city of Simferopol, he was accused by many Ukrainians of being ignorant about Russia’s 2014 annexation of the peninsula. He was criticized for saying that Russians and Ukrainians were the same people.
However, since the Russian invasion in 2022, the mood has changed, with organizer Alexander Krassyuk saying Usyk was “the real inspiration for Ukraine, for the guys at the front.”
“When he speaks, these words inspire the Ukrainian people and soldiers to fight against the enemy and have courage,” Krassyuk told ProBox TV in August last year.
“Usyk no longer fights for himself.”
Usyk felt the war approaching. Immediately after the invasion he returned to Kiev and spent some time on patrol.
Then his former teammate Oleksiy Dzhunkivskyi was shot by the Russians.
However, he was persuaded to return to the ring to fight the war in a more public arena.
“The people from the armed forces convinced me that to help my country on the international stage, I need to prepare and fight, talk about it and provide Ukraine with opportunities to restore my country,” he told AFP.
But more than that, Usyk is aware that history calls in the ring.
“I fight for the legacy, not for money”
A win over Fury, who has held the WBC title since 2020, would make him the first undisputed heavyweight world champion since Lennox Lewis’ victory over Evander Holyfield in 1999.
“I fight for legacy, not money,” Usyk told The Ring in January.
“There hasn’t been a fight like this in heavyweight boxing since 1999. I know the story.”
He had public clashes with Fury along the way, but Usyk believes he now has the upper hand in the psychological battle.
“I sit in his head like a little tractor driver,” he said in an interview last year.
The final word on Usyk should be the man who will try to take his three belts.
“I respect Usyk as a man,” Fury said.
“I also respect his career. I’m fighting the real deal. He has good footwork, good boxing skills and is technically sound.
“He has proven he can take on the big heavyweights, beating Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois. I’m taking on an elite fighter.”
