By: Sean Crose
“Those days are gone forever,” Steely Dan once claimed, “over a long time ago.” And so we were led to believe that boxing’s heavyweight division was no longer the “big man’s division.” It was now the “supersized division,” featuring men who could pass for NBA players rather than traditional boxers. The heavyweights of old, we were told, simply couldn’t compete with the giant heavies of today. And then came Oleksandr Usyk, who became the first undisputed heavyweight champion of the world in twenty-five years this past weekend. Usyk, who stands at a traditional 6’3 bettered the 6’9 Tyson Fury in an absolute 12 round war in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday.
Fury, however, wasn’t the only supersized heavyweight Usyk defeated on his way to undisputed. For over the course of the previous three years, he bested the 6’6 Anthony Joshua not once, but twice. In other words, Usyk earned his chance to become the unquestioned king of the heavyweight division. Indeed, before becoming undisputed heavyweight champion, the undefeated Ukrainian was the undisputed cruiserweight champion of the world – at a full division below heavyweight. How, though, did Usyk, manage to become the fighter he now is – a legitimate all time great?
The truth is that Usyk possesses a skill set like few others. He applies pressure while remaining slippery, moving back and fourth while firing with enough power to put a giant like Fury down on the mat. He’s also extraordinarily focused. Just looking at Usyk’s face while the referee gave the instructions on Saturday, one could see how zeroed in the man was. Even while Fury was making googly eyes, Usyk continued narrowly staring at the towering Englishman, like a man on a mission. That combination of skill and unflappability has proven to be menacingly successful for Usyk in 22 of 22 fights now.
Ultimately, however, it was more than even his skill and focus that led Usyk to where he now sits atop the zenith of the sport. Simply put, determination is what has led Usyk to conquer the world. It might soon be easy to forget but there were more than a few moments on Saturday when Usyk looked like Fury’s punching bag. Sure enough, around the midpoint of the fight Fury looked like he was cruising towards a victory. He was also showing that he could impact Usyk with his shots.
Still, Usyk kept grinding, kept moving forward, even when it started to appear that the result of the fight was becoming a foregone conclusion. And then it happened. Usyk’s fists and aggressiveness took their toll. By the ninth, Fury was on the mat. After the 12th Fury was handed his first ever loss. Usyk had won the night, as well as the heavyweight division, and he had primarily done so through inner fortitude. All hail the King.