Oleksandr Usyk facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Oleksandr Usyk Олександр Усик
Usyk in 2022
Statistics
Nickname(s)	The Cat
Rated at	Cruiserweight Heavyweight
Height	1.91 m
Reach	198 cm
Born	(1987-01-17) 17 January 1987 (age 37) Simferopol, Crimean Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Stance	Southpaw
Boxing record
Total fights	22
Wins	22
Wins by KO	14
Medal record Men's amateur boxing Representing  Ukraine Olympic Games Gold 2012 London Heavyweight World Championships Gold 2011 Baku Heavyweight Bronze 2009 Milan Heavyweight European Championships Gold 2008 Liverpool Light-heavyweight Bronze 2006 Plovdiv Middleweight World Cup Silver 2008 Moscow Heavyweight Strandzha Cup Gold 2008 Plovdiv Light-heavyweight

Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Usyk (Ukrainian: Олександр Олександрович Усик; born 17 January 1987) is a Ukrainian professional boxer. He is the undisputed heavyweight champion, holding the WBA (Super), IBF and WBO titles since 2021, the Ring magazine title since 2022, and the WBC title since 2024. Previously, he held the undisputed cruiserweight championship from 2018 to 2019. In both the heavyweight and cruiserweight divisions, he is the first boxer to hold all four major world titles.

Usyk is only the third male boxer in history (following Terence Crawford and Naoya Inoue) to become the undisputed champion in two weight classes in the four-belt era, he is the only one to do so at cruiserweight and is the only undisputed heavyweight champion in four belt era.

Early life

Usyk was born in Simferopol, Crimean Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union on 17 January 1987, to parents originally from northern Ukraine. His mother was born in the Chernihiv region (in the village of Rybotyn, Korop Raion), while his father was a native of Sumy. His mother worked in construction and moved to Simferopol to study. His father was a military man who passed through Afghanistan, working as a security guard in Crimea, and the two met there.

He is the first born of his family and he has two siblings. Until age 15, he played football and was trained at the SC Tavriya Simferopol specialized sports school of Olympic reserve (club's football academy). In 2002 Usyk switched to boxing. He is a graduate of Lviv State University of Physical Culture.

Career

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, and defeated Tyson Fury in May 2024 to become the first undisputed heavyweight champion in four belt era.

Personal life

Usyk is married and has three children. They live in Kyiv, Ukraine.

His wife has Russian citizenship and the boxer uses Russian as his first language. On 28 April 2014, after the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, Usyk declared he would never exchange his Ukrainian citizenship for Russian citizen.

Usyk is an Orthodox Christian. After his fight against Anthony Joshua, he said in an interview, "The only thing I wanted to do with this fight is to give praise to my Lord Jesus Christ and to say that all comes from him."

On 26 February 2022, Usyk urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to call off Russia's invasion of Ukraine that had begun on 24 February. A few days later, Usyk, fellow boxer Vasiliy Lomachenko and Bellator MMA Welterweight Champion Yaroslav Amosov travelled to Ukraine to join the country's territorial defense forces, although in late March, Usyk left Ukraine to train for his rematch with Anthony Joshua.

In 2022, he became a co-founder and brand ambassador of the Ready to Fight - international blockchain platform, whose mission is to make building a boxing career easier and more accessible by creating effective connections between athletes, managers, agents, doctors and other specialized professionals, as well as sports services, infrastructure and fans.

In 2023, Usyk signed a one-year professional contract with Ukrainian Premier League team FC Polissya Zhytomyr. He was given the number 17. He previously made a substitute appearance for the club in the 76th minute of a 2–1 friendly win over Veres in February 2022. Usyk has stated he intends to play football after he retires from boxing.

Professional boxing record

Viewership

Pay-per-view bouts

International

Images for kids

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  Usyk in 2012

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  Usyk's fight with Andrey Knyazev attracted 3.6 million viewers on Ukrainian television

See also

In Spanish: Oleksandr Usyk para niños

• List of WBA world champions
• List of WBC world champions
• List of IBF world champions
• List of WBO world champions
• List of IBO world champions
• List of The Ring world champions
• List of world cruiserweight boxing champions
• List of world heavyweight boxing champions
• List of undisputed world boxing champions
• Boxing at the 2012 Summer Olympics
• List of Olympic medalists in boxing