Description
Alexander Alexandrovich Usyk was born on January 17, 1987 in Simferopol, Ukrainian SSR. He is a Ukrainian professional boxer competing in the first heavyweight and heavyweight categories. He is recognized as the best boxer regardless of weight category by The Ring magazine.
Usyk is the current WBA, WBO, IBF, IBO and The Ring heavyweight world champion in professional boxing, as well as the undisputed world champion (2018-2019) in the first heavyweight division.
He defeated Russian boxer Murat Gassiev in the final of the WBSS tournament and became the undisputed champion, combining the IBF (2018-2019) and WBA Super (2018-2019) world titles with the previously won WBO (2016-2019) and WBC (2018-2019) championship belts. He also won the Muhammad Ali Cup and the world title according to the boxing edition of The Ring (2018-2019) in cruiserweight. In total, he defeated 7 fighters for the world heavyweight title.
Alexander Usyk became the 2012 Olympic champion in the weight category up to 91 kg, the 2011 world champion in the weight category up to 91 kg and the 2008 European champion in the weight category up to 81 kg. He also achieved success in amateur boxing, repeatedly becoming the champion of Ukraine among amateurs and was awarded the title of Honored Master of Sports of Ukraine.
Usyk was recognized as the best professional boxer of 2018 by the ESPN sports channel, Sports Illustrated and The Ring sports magazines, the BWAA Journalists Association of America, BoxingTalk, Yahoo Sports, and WBC publications.