Oleksandr Ussyk

Oleksandr Ussyk
Oleksandr Ussyk (2015)
Data
Birth Name	Oleksandr Oleksandrowytsch Ussyk
Fight name	The Cat
Weight class	Cruiserweight heavyweight
nationality	Ukraine
birthday	17th January 1987
place of birth	Simferopol
style	Legal display
size	1.90 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	17th
Victories	17th
Knockout victories	13
Defeats	0
draw	0

Oleksandr Ussyk medal table
Boxing
Ukraine
Olympic games
gold	2012	Heavyweight
World championships
gold	2011	Heavyweight
bronze	2009	Heavyweight
European championships
gold	2008	Light heavyweight
bronze	2006	medium weight

Oleksandr Oleksandrowytsch Ussyk ( Ukrainian Олександр Олександрович Усик ., English transcription Oleksandr Oleksandrovic Usyk * 17th January 1987 in Simferopol , Ukrainian SSR , Soviet Union ) is a Ukrainian professional boxer in the heavyweight and former undisputed cruiserweight champion of all four major organizations ( WBO , WBC , WBA , IBF ). He is thus the only cruiserweight boxer to date who has united all four major associations. He also won the World Boxing Super Series tournament in July 2018 , becoming the first winner of the Muhammad Ali Trophy .

In October 2019 he successfully made his heavyweight debut against Chazz Witherspoon in Chicago by giving up in the 7th round.

As an amateur, he was European light heavyweight champion in 2008 , as well as world champion 2011 and Olympic champion 2012 heavyweight.

Life

Ussyk grew up in the Crimea . He played football until he was 14 years old and trained with the Tawrija Simferopol club . At the age of 15 he switched to boxing, initially without aiming for a professional career. The main reason for the change from football to boxing was the financial situation of his family, which could not afford the football equipment and club fees. He attended a local school, where he met his future wife Ekaterina. Ussyk studied sports science at the Lviv State Sports University . In 2009 he married his wife Ekaterina and has three children. In 2014 Ussyk had to leave the Crimea after Russia occupied and annexed the peninsula . Since then he has lived in Kiev .

Amateur career

Ussyk started boxing at the age of 15 and appeared in the middleweight division in international tournaments and competitions from 2005. At the European Junior Championships in Estonia in 2005 he lost in the first fight against Russian Sergei Sklijarow, but won the silver medal at the 2006 Bocskai tournament in Hungary after losing to Ömer Aydoğan in the final, after he had previously defeated Ronald Gavril and Petrișor Gănănău , among others . He also won the silver medal at the Ahmet Cömert tournament in Turkey after losing to Mohamed Hikal in the final .

At the European Championships in 2006 in Plovdiv , Bulgaria , he was able to reach the semi-finals by winning against Balázs Kelemen, Badou Jack and Revas Karelishvili, where he was eliminated with a bronze medal against Matwei Korobow . He also represented Ukraine in the 2006 World Cup in Baku , which was organized as an international match , where he lost again to Mohamed Hikal, but was able to beat the Chinese Lu Yuping.

In an international match against the USA he lost to Shawn Porter in December 2006 and in May 2007 to Babacar Kamara at the Ahmet Cömert tournament . He was now boxing light heavyweight. At the Amber Gloves tournament in Russia , which was also organized as an international match , he won against Cavid Tağıyev and Utkir Soipow, but lost to Artur Beterbijew just under 10:12.

In February 2008 he won the Strandja tournament in Bulgaria with outstanding victories against Gottlieb Weiss , Robert Woge and Dmitri Tschudinow . In the same month he took part in the heavyweight division in the European Olympic qualification in Italy , where he was able to secure an Olympic ticket with victories against Adrian Ciobanu, Yousef Abdelghani, Elchin Alizade and Danny Price. In addition, he won the Klitschko tournament in Ukraine in May 2008 by beating Cuban Osmay Acosta in the final and again took part in the Ahmet Cömert tournament, where this time he failed in the final against Zhang Xiaoping . At the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008 he defeated the Chinese Nijati Yushan (23: 4) in the first fight, but then lost to the Italian Clemente Russo 4: 7 in the quarterfinals .

In November 2008 he won the European Light Heavyweight Championships in Liverpool , where he had prevailed against Alexander Moskowski, Boško Drašković , Bahram Muzaffer , Nikolajs Grišuņins and Sjarhej Karnejeu . In December 2008 he took part in the World Cup in Moscow , which was held this time as an individual competition , where he finished second in the final without a fight against Osmay Acosta. He also won two international tournaments in Ukraine until July 2009.

At the 2009 World Championships in Milan he fought his way to the semi-finals in the heavyweight division against Manpreet Singh (16: 2), Stephen Simmons (11: 1) and Vitalijus Subačius (19: 1), where he played against Yegor Mechonzew (10:14) retired from a bronze medal. In December 2009 he won the Presidents Cup in Baku against Rafael Lima, Ramesjon Akhmedov and Julio Castillo and in March 2010 two international matches against Arsen Goulamirian . By the end of 2010 he won again the Presidents Cup, the European Cup and a tournament in France, with victories against Jachan Kurbanow , Vasily Levit , Mohammad Ghossoun, Lenier Pero , John M'Bumba , Terwel Pulew and Joshua Temple.

After winning two international tournaments in Kazakhstan and Ukraine, he also started in the heavyweight division at the 2011 World Championships in Baku, which he was also able to win confidently. He beat Evgenijius Tutkus (26: 2), Terwel Pulew (TKO), Artur Beterbijew (17:13), Sjarhej Karnejeu (23:10) and Teymur Məmmədov (25:15) on the way to the title .

As reigning world champion, he then started at the Olympic Games in London in 2012 and won the heavyweight gold medal after he again battled Artur Beterbijew (17:13) and Terwel Pulew (21: 5), as well as in the final match against Clemente Russo (14: 11) prevailed.

In the 2012/2013 season Ussyk started for the Ukrainian Otamans in the World Series of Boxing . During the season he won all six fights in which he was used and beat u. a. Joseph Joyce of the British Lionhearts. In the quarterfinals of the playoffs he won against Məhəmmədrəsul Məcidov from Azerbaijan Baku Fire and in the semifinals against Matteo Modugno, Italia Thunder. In the final fights he met Mihai Nistor , but could not prevent the defeat against the Astana Arlans with his victory.

He was also the Ukrainian champion in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Professional career

In November 2013 Ussyk started his professional career under the promoter K2 Promotions . On September 17, 2016, he won the WBO world cruiserweight title in only his tenth fight, when he unanimously defeated the Polish title holder Krzysztof Głowacki on points. In his first title defense on December 17, 2016, he beat the South African Thabiso Mchunu by knockout in the ninth round. In April 2017, he again unanimously defended the title against Michael Hunter .

In the quarterfinals of the World Boxing Super Series on September 9, 2017, he defeated Marco Huck by a technical knockout in the 10th round and defended his world championship belt in cruiserweight division. In the semifinals, he beat Mairis Briedis on points and won his WBC title. On July 21, 2018, he played the final fight of the tournament, defeating the IBF and WBA world champion Murat Gassijew unanimously, making him the first cruiserweight boxer to combine the four recognized world titles.

After defeating Gassiev in Moscow, the Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Hroysman suggested that Ussyk be awarded the Hero of Ukraine award. Ussyk refused on the grounds that he was already a hero for a certain part of the population. In addition, he does not need any awards that are given by the government to people who partly deserve them, but partly not.

In November 2018 he defended all titles by knocking out in the eighth round against Tony Bellew , who had defeated David Haye in his last two fights .

List of professional fights

17 wins (13 knockout wins), 0 defeats , 0 draws
year	Day	place	opponent	Result for Usyk
2013	November 9th	Kiev Sports Palace , Kiev, Ukraine	Felipe Romero professional debut	Victory / TKO 5th round
	December 14th	Ice Palace, Brovary, Ukraine	Epifanio Mendoza	Victory / TKO 4th round
2014	26th of April	Koenig-Pilsener-Arena , Oberhausen, Germany	Ben Nsafoah	Victory / KO 3rd round
	31. May	Sportpalace, Odessa, Ukraine	Cesar David Crenz	Victory / KO 4th round
	4th of October	Arena Lviv , Lviv, Ukraine	Daniel Bruwer WBO Intercontinental Cruiserweight Championship	Victory / TKO 7th round
	13th December	Kiev Sports Palace , Kiev, Ukraine	Danie Venter WBO Intercontinental Cruiserweight Title Defense	Victory / TKO 9th round
2015	April 18	Kiev Sports Palace , Kiev, Ukraine	Andrei Kniazev WBO Intercontinental Cruiserweight Title Defense	Victory / TKO 8th round
	29th August	Kiev Sports Palace , Kiev, Ukraine	Johnny Muller WBO Intercontinental Cruiserweight Title Defense	Victory / TKO 3rd round
	12th of December	Kiev Sports Palace , Kiev, Ukraine	Pedro Julio Rodriguez WBO Intercontinental Cruiserweight Title Defense	Victory / TKO 7th round
2016	17th of September	Ergo Arena , Gdansk, Poland	Krzysztof Głowacki WBO World Cruiserweight Championship	Points victory (unanimous) / 12 rounds
	December 17th	The Forum , California, USA	Thabiso Mchunu WBO cruiserweight title defense	Victory / KO 9th round
2017	April 8th	MGM National Harbor, Oxon Hill, USA	Michael Hunter WBO cruiserweight title defense	Points victory (unanimous) / 12 rounds
	the 9th of September	Max-Schmeling-Halle , Berlin, Germany	Marco Huck WBO cruiserweight title defense World Boxing Super Series quarterfinals	Victory / TKO 10th round
2018	January 27th	Arena Riga , Riga, Latvia	Mairis Briedis WBC / WBO Cruiserweight Title Association World Boxing Super Series Semi-Finals	Point victory (majority decision) / 12 rounds
	21 July	Olimpijski , Moscow, Russia	Murat Gassiev IBF / WBA / WBC / WBO Cruiserweight Title Association World Boxing Super Series Final	Points victory (unanimous) / 12 rounds
	November 10th	Manchester Arena , Manchester, UK	Tony Bellew IBF / WBA / WBC / WBO cruiserweight title defense	Victory / TKO 8th round
2019	October 12th	Wintrust Arena , Chicago, USA	Chazz Witherspoon	Victory / abandonment 7th round
2020	October 24th	The O2 , London, United Kingdom	Dereck Chisora	Pending
Source: Oleksandr Ussyk in the BoxRec database

literature

• Box Sport magazine

Web links

• Oleksandr Ussyk in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Oleksandr Ussyk in the BoxRec database
• Oleksandr Ussyk in BoxRec- Encyclopaedia
• Website Amateur-boxing.strefa.pl
• Website of the Ukrainian Boxing Association
• Biographical data from Oleksandr Usyk ( memento from March 16, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) on beijing2008.cn (in the Internet archive)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Олександр Усик у світовому рейтингу піднявся на сьому позицію . Lviv State University of Physical Culture. Retrieved July 25, 2018.
2. ↑ Усик играл за "Таврию" и вышивал подушки. 9 апперкотов о великом украинце, который уложил Гассиева . In: Eurosport , July 22, 2018.
3. ↑ Usyk Beats Gassiev to Unify Cruiserweight Division . In: The New York Times , July 21, 2018.
4. ↑ Joyous Ukrainian Crowd Greets Boxer Usyk In Kyiv After Victory In Moscow . In: Radio Free Europe. 23rd July 2018.
5. ↑ Boxing champion Usyk rejects Hero of Ukraine award , unian.info, August 2, 2018

predecessor	title	successor
Krzysztof Głowacki	Cruiserweight Boxing Champion ( WBO ) September 17, 2016 - June 6, 2019	vacant Mairis Briedis
Mairis Briedis	Cruiserweight Boxing Champion ( WBC ) January 27, 2018 - June 6, 2019	vacant
Murat Gassiev	Cruiserweight Boxing Champion ( IBF ) July 21, 2018 - June 25, 2019	vacant Yunier Dorticos
Murat Gassiev	Cruiserweight Boxing Champion ( WBA ) July 21, 2018 - March 28, 2019	vacant