SPORTS FACTS AND FIGURES 69: OLEKSANDR USYK BECOMES THIRD MALE TWO-DIVISION UNDISPUTED CHAMPION
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 20 May 2024
Oleksandr Usyk is only the third male boxer in history to become the undisputed champion in two weight classes in the four-belt era. The other two were Terence Crawford and Naoya Inoue. Usyk is the only boxer to accomplish it at the cruiserweight and is the only undisputed heavyweight champion in the four-belt era.
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Mike Fitzgerald of USA scored it 114-113 for Usyk, Craig Metcalfe of Canada saw it 113-114 for Fury and Manuel Oliver Palomo of Spain had it 115-112 for Usyk by split decision.
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Usyk has become the first fighter to be called the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world since Lennox Lewis in 1999 in nearly 25 years. He has held the WBA, IBF and WBO titles since 2021, the Ring magazine title since 2022, and now the WBC title he wrested from Fury. He also held the minor IBO heavyweight title since 2021
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In 2018 Usyk became the fourth male in boxing history to hold the WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO titles simultaneously after Jermain Taylor, Bernard Hopkins and Terence Crawford. He became the first Ukrainian undisputed world champion.
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He won his first world title in only his tenth fight in 2016, and became the undisputed champion in his fifteenth fight in 2018. Usyk vacated his cruiserweight titles in 2019 to move up to heavyweight. By that time, in sixteen fights he had defeated five current or former world champions.
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He had beaten Krzysztof Głowacki of Poland for the WBO cruiserweight title; Marco Huck of Bosnia and Germany, the former WBO cruiserweight champion; Mairis Briedis of Latvia, the former WBO, WBC and IBF cruiserweight champion; Murat Gassiev of Russia, the former WBA and IBF cruiserweight champion and Anthony Bellew of England, the former WBC cruiserweight champion.
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In September 2021, Usyk defeated unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua to seize the WBA, IBF, WBO, and IBO titles. He defended the titles in a rematch against Joshua in August 2022, and defeated Tyson Fury in May 2024 to become the first undisputed heavyweight champion in the four-belt era.
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Compubox Punchstats:
Total punches landed
Usyk - 170
Fury - 157
Total jabs landed
Usyk - 48
Fury - 62
Power punches landed
Usyk - 122
Fury - 95
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Fury has thrown more punches at 496 than Usyk at 407. But Usyk is more accurate at 41.8% than Fury's 31.7%.
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Fury, 35, lost for the first time in his 16-year professional career. His record stands at 34-1-1 with 24 KOs. The 37-year-old Usyk remains unbeaten at 22-0 with 14 KOs.
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Both fighters are slated to box again later this October in their rematch. But it is unlikely to be for all four belts since the IBF is planning to strip Usyk as he will not be facing its mandatory challenger next fight.
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Each sanctioning body will appoint a mandatory challenger for its respective belt using a rotation system for the belt which will be defended. The most recent mandatory title defense was last August, when Usyk defeated WBA’s No. 1 contender Daniel Dubois of England.
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In the case of the IBF, their mandatory challenger is Filip Hrgovic of Croatia who has long been next in line to challenge for a world title. Hrgovic is scheduled to fight Dubois in June where the newly vacated IBF title belt is expected to be at stake.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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