As Oleksandr Usyk walked towards us just after three in the morning, resplendent in his purple tracksuit while carrying Eeyore under his arm, his promoter let slip a gentle cry: “Here he comes, the best man in boxing …”
Alex Krassyuk is not a traditional boxing promoter, being a much more understated man than most of his contemporaries in this riotous old business. But his pride was understandable in the immediate aftermath of Usyk’s decisive second successive defeat of Tyson Fury.
Lighter by more than 50lb, and with Fury having promised to take him into the darkest “hurt locker” where he would do “some serious damage”, Usyk yet again used an irresistible combination of grit and dazzle to seal a comprehensive and thrilling victory as he retained his three world heavyweight titles in the early hours of Sunday in Riyadh.
Fury had dismissed and ridiculed him for years – as a “gappy-toothed middleweight”, the “midget”, the “bum”, the “dosser” and the “sausage” – but Usyk is the undefeated and former undisputed world cruiserweight champion. He stands 6ft 3in tall and he weighed in at 226lb for this rematch with Fury. So he is a pretty mighty “midget” and a real banger of a “sausage”.
Usyk is still fighting a division above his natural home – where cruiserweights are only allowed to scale a maximum of 200lb.
So the imperious way in which he stood up to Fury before outthinking and outfighting him once more provides compelling evidence for anyone trying to build a case that Usyk should be regarded as the best pound‑for‑pound fighter in the world. But, as he spoke with humility and wit, it was even easier to savour his simple human qualities as an ordinary man, as a son, a husband and a father.
Boxing is full of unsavoury and highly suspect people. But it also produces extraordinary men such as Usyk.
While Fury refused to offer any praise of Usyk, the world champion remained the epitome of grace. “He is my best friend,” he said of Fury with a wry smile.
“Yeah! Listen, I really respect this guy because I think he is a very tough opponent. Tyson Fury makes me strong. Tyson is a great opponent. He is a big man, a tough boxer. He is a good man. With Tyson there is a lot of talking but I have so much respect for him. Twenty-four rounds? Listen, now it is already historic.”
Usyk has shared 24 rounds with Fury and Anthony Joshua, as well as nine rounds with Daniel Dubois. He was asked which of the three British fighters who have held versions of the world title had proved the most accomplished and difficult opponent. Usyk looked down at his nails, as if they had just been manicured rather than hidden in sweat-streaked boxing gloves, and then gave his answer. “It’s Tyson Fury,” he said, with such certainty that he did not even need to add a clinching “of course”.
Fury argued that Usyk had been given the unanimous decision – 116-112 on all three scorecards – as a Christmas present from the judges. Frank Warren, Fury’s promoter, had suggested it was “nuts” that Fury hadn’t been awarded many more rounds by the officials.
“Uncle Frank?” Usyk said cheerfully. “I think he’s blind. If Tyson says it’s a Christmas gift, then OK. Thank you, God. Not Tyson. Thank you, God. Thank you, my coach, Yurii [Tkachenko]. Thank you, my team. Listen, Frank is a crazy man, in my opinion. But it’s OK, no problem. I win.”
He dedicated his victory to “my mama and all Ukrainian mothers” as he again highlighted his bond with his country while the war against Russia grinds on with draining consequences.
Usyk transcends boxing in Ukraine and so he soon elevated the press conference, as he opened up a case containing a gleaming sword which, he revealed, had once belonged to Ivan Mazepa, a 17th‑century Cossack warrior and leader. “This is the original sabre of the legendary Hetman [field marshal] who fought for Ukraine’s freedom from Russian invaders over 300 years ago,” Krassyuk said.
It had been flown in especially from a museum in Ukraine so that Usyk could hold it high in the ring after his victory over Fury. This was more than a gesture of solidarity with Ukraine’s unbowed soldiers on the frontline. For Usyk, it was a chance to highlight his charitable foundation, WOW, which promotes Ukrainian culture and men such as Mazepa who “fought for the country’s sovereignty and freedom from imperial domination”.
Inevitably, and prosaically, Usyk was then asked for his message to Dubois. He beat Dubois 16 months ago in Poland but this summer the British heavyweight was gifted one of the four world heavyweight belts Usyk won in May. After beating Fury then, Usyk became the first undisputed world heavyweight champion this century. It was scandalous that, weeks later, the IBF decided to strip him of their bauble because he was under contract to face Fury again rather than fight their mandatory challenger.
Dubois was installed as the IBF champion and he has since knocked out Joshua. But Usyk, 38 next month, just shrugged. “I don’t have a message for Dubois.”
Instead, he told us about the inspiration he had received the previous afternoon from his sons. “It helped me because today my guys win competitions and take judo belts. Mykhailo takes [the] orange belt, Kyrylo takes [the] green belt. And Kyrylo talked to me today. He said: ‘Hey Papa, you’re next to win.’ I said: ‘OK.’”
He also shouted out his love to his eldest daughter, Yelizaveta, who had given him her toy Eeyore as a way of bringing him luck. He stressed that returning to his wife, Yekaterina, and their four children mattered far more to him than discussing what he may do next in boxing. “Listen my next step, I want to rest. Today my wife sent me a video message. My little daughter Marisa say: ‘Da-dee … Da-dee.’ She is 10 and a half months. I have had time to look at my little daughter for only two months, maximum. Maybe one and a half months [as he has been locked away in successive training camps for Fury]. Now I want to go back home, rest, stay off my phone and close [the doors of] my house. I want to sit like this …”
Usyk grinned, leaned back in his chair, stretched out his legs and spread his arms wide. “I want to lie back and look at the sky. Mmmmm. I also want to look at a tree and see how it is growing. Yeah! I want to rest, not think about boxing, Dubois, Tyson Fury, bleagghhh. I just want to rest and play with my children.”
Fury, meanwhile, will soon plot a return to boxing with the likelihood that there will be hysterical hype about him fighting Joshua next year. But, for many of us, it will be hard to care much about that domestic scrap when Usyk has beaten them both so clearly and when his cultural and political significance to Ukraine, during an unremitting war, continues to deepen.
He remains grounded in ordinary human concerns for his people and his family but, just before he slipped away into the early morning darkness of Riyadh, Usyk allowed himself a brief flash of bravado. Asked whether he could think of any heavyweight in history who would have been good enough to beat him, Usyk thought hard before coming up with a familiar name.
“Yeah,” he said with a deadpan expression, “it’s Oleksandr Usyk.”
Then, as if to remind us that he had not forgotten his manners, the best man in boxing stood up and bowed with deep and respectful gratitude.
