LONDON – Oleksandr Usyk has entered the final countdown of his career. The likeable Ukrainian, a modern great and the unified heavyweight champion of the world, bids to become an undisputed king for a third time when he takes on Daniel Dubois, IBF heavyweight champion, in Wembley Stadium on Saturday.
“Two [more fights]. This and next,” Usyk told a small group of reporters this week.
There has been talk about a third bout with Tyson Fury, whom Usyk has twice already bettered, with bids likely to come in from Saudi Arabia and Russia.
“I don’t know,” Usyk said in response to whether it would be Fury. “Now my focus, it’s only Daniel on Saturday.”
Of course, Usyk has earned the right to say how, when, and against whom he makes his exit against.
The excellent southpaw is 23-0 (18 KOs), an Olympic gold medalist who unified at cruiserweight, moved up, unified at heavyweight, had to hand back the IBF belt due to the ridiculousness of this sport’s politics, and now fights to add it back to his championship closet on Saturday.
Most of the 38-year-old’s damage has been done on the road, boxing and taking souls of opponents in their own countries and in front of their own fans. That, in part, has come about through necessity as his country, Ukraine, has fended off Russia’s bloody advances.
Dubois has other plans.
The Londoner hopes his run of form, that has seen him best Jarrell Miller, Filip Hrgovic, and Anthony Joshua, will continue against Usyk, who defeated him in Poland two years ago.
Dubois was stopped in nine rounds, but Usyk admits he has seen evidence of Dubois’ improvements since their first encounter.
“I think that Daniel has gotten better and now he has a championship belt,” says Usyk. “But I haven’t been staying in one place either. I’ve been growing, too.”
Usyk can also draw upon positive experiences in rematches against both Joshua and Fury, but that is of no concern to him. Victory is the only thing on his mind.
“I’m never thinking about what other people are talking about,” Usyk adds. “My father always told me, ‘You have to do your job well and if you do your job well people will talk well about you. If you do your job bad, they will talk bad about you.’ So it’s better if you do it well.”
In 2022, when Usyk and Dubois fought in Poland, there was debate about a borderline shot on Usyk’s belt, but there were also post-fight images of Usyk trying to explain something to a dejected Dubois.
“After the fight, when Daniel lost, I said, ‘Don’t make a mistake and never stop and keep going.’”
When they were reunited under the famous Wembley arch on Tuesday, Usyk was greeted by Dubois yelling, “And the new …” at him, seemingly ignoring the fact that he already holds a belt.
“I don’t think about it,” Usyk says, when asked what he thought about that welcome.
Dubois has promised to bring “chaos” on Saturday, to which Usyk simply counters: “It’s God’s will.”
Interestingly, Usyk said this week that the hardest puncher he has been in with is Derek Chisora – leading contender for Dubois’ IBF title – but having felt Dubois punches, the ones that have taken him to a 95 per cent KO ratio, Usyk says he is focused on his faith and improving rather than on what might be coming back his way.
“I’m a faithful person. I see only the best in people but sometimes people show their bad side and even when they’re showing their bad side, I would never judge them,” Usyk adds. “I wouldn’t say anything bad about them or say, ‘I do not respect you for that.’ In moments like this, I just think please God give him some brains, some understanding and just willpower to get better [from] where he is now. I respect every boxer, every sportsman that is going to the ring, going to the ring meaning to be a fighter. … Every opponent that I see in the ring is the fighter that came there to make himself better; to become better.”
Talking in that manner indicates a shared passion for the sport and what it takes to compete as a boxer – at any level. It is why Usyk, despite having soft plans to retire, has no such desire to leave the sport.
“I’m not going to quit boxing forever. I’m going to be training younger boxers and giving them the experience I’ve gained. Maybe I’ll even become the coach,” he says.
Where would he be without boxing?
“There’s three options – there’s movies, music or prison.”
While Usyk is just fine answering countless questions about his trade, it is speaking about his family where he is at his most illuminated, engaged, and warm. Sacrificing being away from his family is hard, but for him there is no other way.
Usyk and wife Yekaterina, who married in 2009, have four children, two daughters and two sons.
“It’s always been very difficult, but I always keep in mind that I have to be focused on training and I chose this path to be who I am now,” he explains. “Sometimes we have to give away things to get even better things. And sometimes it’s the people that are around us, that are closest to us, they pay the price for us.
“[My sons] were there [in training camp in Valencia] with me and then they left. They had been there for one week then one of them went to Spain to train for the Spanish championship [in judo]. One stayed with me and then they came back again for two days and then they left again.”
He and his wife talk on FaceTime often, too.
“Yes of course, I’m always calling my wife early in the morning. When our young daughter wakes up, she always wants to see her daddy,” the champion smiles. “It’s always in the morning and evening, sometimes even in the lunchtime when there’s a break and I have time for it.”
One of Usyk’s sons wants to continue judo all the way to the Olympics; another son wants to be a world champion boxer.
“But I always said,” smiles Usyk, “‘To get there, you have to be working a lot, and sometimes, being famous is not that fun.'”
Fame, of course, has been a by-product for Usyk, as has international acclaim, something he found hard to imagine as a child growing up in Simferopol. He never thought he would be in the position of wealth he now finds himself in.
“When I was very little, my family was quite poor and sometimes there would be no money to even buy some bread,” he explains. “Now I’m working so hard so my kids will have not just bread but butter.
“When I started boxing all I wanted to do was punch someone in my backyard. I wasn’t planning to be a professional boxer. ‘I’m going to really enjoy this,’ and then my coach said I can become world champion,” he recalls. “Then, I thought that if we have seven billion people on the planet and I can become world champion, it’s very good, but at the same time, I didn’t truly believe him. The place I come from; people don’t really believe in the dreams that I actually live now. They don’t even believe that they can move from their city to another city next year. I’d be writing, not that ‘I will be champion,' but, ‘I am the world champion’. When someone would say, ‘Oleksandr Usyk wants to become world champion,' I would say, ‘No, I am the world champion.' Out of 10 boys in the same area, I was the only one who used to say that I would become a world champion; they would do nothing, and they wouldn’t believe it [what he said]. One of them, Serhii Lapin, is one of us here, was the only one who said, ‘I think you actually will.’ My other friends say that they always knew that I would get out of that city, and [about] how hard I worked to get what I’ve got now.”
For Usyk’s journey, he has worked with promoter Alex Krassyuk, although the pair announced a split last month. It came as a surprise, but Usyk says they have other projects they will continue working on (“We didn’t stop working together.”)
But for all his success, Usyk knows his time is nearly over. Dubois will hope to force his hand on Saturday. And with countryman Vasiliy Lomachencko having recently exited the sport, the end of an incredibly proud era for Ukraine boxing is nigh.
But Usyk and “Loma” have both given joy, hope, and happiness to millions back home when they needed it.
“When I meet younger boxers, I say, ‘No matter what age you are, you can do whatever you want to do – everything is achievable,’” concludes Usyk. “You have to work. The worst thing that you can think is to do something tomorrow. You have to do it right now. If you want to do something, write it on a piece of paper and always carry it with you – don’t forget that you wanted to do it, and do it right now.”
Usyk is preparing for the last couple of chapters, and we are left to wonder what it says on the paper in his pocket.
