To trace back the last defeat of Oleksandr Usyk’s career, you need to go back more than 10 years.
The Ukrainian hero has won all 24 fights as pro, notching undisputed reigns at cruiserweight and heavyweight and rubber-stamping his induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame as one of the finest fighters of this generation.
Russia’s Egor Mekhontsev was the last man to hang an L on the Ukrainian great and, speaking at the IBA Men’s World Championships in Dubai, the 41-year-old recalled facing Usyk in the semi-finals of the 2009 World Championships in Milan, winning 14-10.
Asked what was needed to beat Usyk some 16 years on, Mekhontsev said: “I think you need to have good speed, at least something like Egor Mekhontsev’s. Then it becomes possible.”
Mekhontsev, 13-0-1 (8 KOs), has not boxed since a 2017 fight in Moscow, but he had moved to California and had most of his fights in America. But he believes he has unfinished business in the pros, and with Usyk.
“Yes, of course [I would welcome a pro fight],” he said in Dubai. “My old teammates still send me some videos from time to time and ask, ‘Egor, do you still think you would tear all of them apart?’
“And I tell them, ‘You know, I still think so.’
“I’m 40, but I still feel that way. I can’t go around saying I’d do this or that — in our culture that’s considered improper — but I have a lot of confidence in myself. If anything, anytime, anywhere. I’m always ready.”
Usyk’s last fight came with a routine victory over Daniel Dubois in a return earlier this year. He’d already defeated the Englishman, and now holds two wins apiece over Dubois, Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury.
The Dubois return was sold primarily around Dubois’ impressive form but also from their first fight, in Poland, after Usyk was hit downstairs. Team Dubois claim it was a legal blow, but the officials ruled in favor of Team Usyk, that it was an illegal blow.
That served to remind Mekhontsev of Usyk’s stay in the amateurs.
“When he boxed with me, he kept going down as if I were hitting him below the belt, even though I was punching to the body — yet he’d grab areas you’re not allowed to hit,” said the Russian. “I think that’s shameful; where we come from, that’s considered a low act.
“I’ve seen his other fights, and people complained too. Take his fight with Beterbiev at the Olympic Games — when he started holding his kidney on the completely opposite side.
“We talked with Artur, and he said, ‘It was physically impossible for me to hit him there.’ If you look at it objectively, he simply couldn’t reach that kidney.
“That’s why they deducted two points from Usyk. That’s something he does. It’s a habit of his — and for us, that’s disgraceful.
“And the way he keeps dropping… Damn, aren’t you tired of falling?! At least once — don’t fall. Don’t fall and don’t pretend.
“In the end, this is a man’s sport. Tough it out.”
