Oleksandr Usyk

Oleksandr Usyk (born January 17, 1987, Simferopol, Crimea, Ukraine) is a Ukrainian professional boxer who became the two-time undisputed heavyweight world champion by unanimous decision on July 19, 2025. Nicknamed “the Cat” for his agility, quick footwork, and slick technical skills in the ring, Usyk is considered among the greatest heavyweight champions in the modern era.

Usyk is 6 feet 3 inches (191 cm) tall, and is right handed but fights with a southpaw stance. His height, along with his 78-inch (198-cm) reach are considered small for the heavyweight boxing class. However he is skilled at quickly transitioning between offensive and defensive strategies, which allows him to dictate the pace of fights while keeping his often larger opponents guessing. His tactics include constant feinting, alternating between body and head attacks, consistently pushing forward with punches and constant movement, and stepping slightly to the right as he punches, making it harder for his opponent to counter and easier for him to return fire.

Early life and family

Usyk is one of three children born to Nadezhda Petrovna Usyk, who worked in the construction industry, and Oleksandr Anatoliyovych Usyk, a former soldier in the Soviet army. Initially raised in Simferopol, his family relocated to the Chernihiv region in northern Ukraine in 1992 to ride out the economic crisis that followed the Soviet Union’s collapse. When Usyk was in the second grade, he contracted pneumonia and became critically ill. Doctors warned his parents that he might not survive and advised that, if he pulled through, he should take up a sport to strengthen his immune system. He spent a year in and out of the hospital before making a full recovery.

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While building his strength back, Usyk began playing football (soccer), as it was the only organized sport in his hometown, and dreamed of becoming a professional footballer. In 2002, when he was 15, his family returned to Simferopol, where he trained with the club SC Tavriya Simferopol. When the cost of training at the academy became too much for his parents, Usyk’s father suggested he switch to boxing.

Amateur career

Usyk quickly established himself as a force in the amateur boxing world, winning an astonishing 335 of his 350 fights. In 2006 he earned his first medal, a bronze, after reaching the middleweight semifinals of the European Amateur Championships in Bulgaria. He won his first gold medal in the light heavyweight division at the Strandzha Cup in February 2008 and followed it with a gold at the European Amateur Championships in Liverpool in 2008. He represented Ukraine at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. At the World Amateur Boxing Championships, he won bronze in Milan in 2009 and then gold in Baku in 2011, both in the heavyweight category. Usyk topped off his amateur career by winning the heavyweight gold at the London Olympic Games in 2012.

Professional career

Usyk turned professional in 2013. Starting out in the cruiserweight division and training under James Bashir and Sergey Vatamanyuk, he won his first nine matches by knockout (KO). In 2016 he became the World Boxing Organization (WBO) cruiserweight champion after scoring a 12-round unanimous decision over Polish boxer Krzysztof Głowacki. Usyk retained the title over his next three matches against South Africa’s Thabiso Mchunu, American Michael Hunter, and Germany’s Marco Huck.

In 2017 Usyk began training under Anatoly Lomachenko, his former Ukrainian national coach. By July 2018 Usyk had become a unified champion, earning WBO, World Boxing Council, World Boxing Association (WBA), and International Boxing Federation (IBF) cruiserweight titles, after defeating Latvia’s Mairis Briedis and Russia’s Murat Gassiev. He retained all four titles after defeating the United Kingdom’s Tony Bellew in November of the same year.

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Usyk moved up to the heavyweight division in 2019 under the guidance of trainer Yuriy Tkachenko, with whom he had started training prior to his match with Tony Bellew. In September 2021, in just his third match in the heavyweight division, Usyk earned the WBO, IBF, and WBA heavyweight champion titles after scoring a 12-round unanimous decision over the United Kingdom’s Anthony Joshua. He retained the titles the following year after a 12-round split-decision win in a rematch with Joshua.

In May 2024 Usyk defeated the United Kingdom’s Tyson Fury by split decision to become the undisputed heavyweight world champion and the first to hold the title since Lennox Lewis held it for five months across 1999 and 2000. Usyk also became the first undisputed heavyweight champion in the four-belt era that began in 2007. However, he had to give up his IBF belt after refusing to fight their challenger. Usyk retained his other titles with a unanimous-decision win in a rematch against Fury in December 2024.

Usyk became a two-time undisputed heavyweight champion in July 2025 after defeating the United Kingdom’s Daniel Dubois (who had won the IBF belt in 2024) with a fifth-round KO. Usyk’s two undisputed heavyweight titles, along with his undisputed cruiserweight title, made him the first male boxer to become a three-time undisputed champion in the four-belt era. He also became only the second male boxer, since Muhammad Ali, to be undisputed heavyweight champion twice. Usyk’s professional career has seen him win all of his 24 fights, 15 of them by knockout.

Personal life

Usyk is a graduate of the Lviv State University of Physical Culture in Ukraine. He also completed a master’s degree in psychology and in 2025 received a Ph.D. in Law from the Kharkiv National University of Internal Affairs; his thesis topic was “Administrative and legal support of international cooperation in the field of physical culture and sports.” In 2023 Usyk signed with Ukrainian soccer club FC Polissya Zhytomyr; he had made one appearance, as a substitute, for the club the previous year.

Usyk is married to Yekaterina Usyk (née Khmelevska); they met in school and have four children together—two daughters and two sons. Yekaterina Usyk runs the Usyk Foundation, a charity focused on supporting Ukraine during the Russian invasion.