Oleksandr Usyk retained his WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight belts on Saturday after defeating Anthony Joshua via split decision at the Jeddah Superdome in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Usyk, of Ukraine, has now won two in a row over the former champion Joshua after defeating the former titleholder last September.
Usyk out-boxed Joshua and won by split decision, but the furious Brit who didn’t seem to take his meeting very well. took hold of two belts, threw them down and stormed out of the ring.
After some talking to by his team, he came back and made an impassioned speech to explain his post-fight frustrations and congratulate his opponent. The Englishman began by referencing his youth and troubles with police as he reflected on his career following the devastating defeat and applauded his competitor. “If you knew my story you would understand the passion. I ain’t no amateur boxer from five years old that was an elite prospect from youth.
I was going to jail, I got bail and I started training my a3se off, I wanted to be able to fight. I’m stealing this Usyk I’m sorry, but it’s because of the passion we put into this. This guy to beat me tonight, maybe I could have done better, but it shows the level of hard work I put in so please give him a round of applause as our heavyweight champion of the world.”
However, Usyk was emotional after the win as he spoke of of his wor-torn home country. “I devote this victory to my country, my family, my team and to the military defending the country. This is already history. Many generations are going to watch this fight, especially the round when someone tried to beat me hard. But I turned it in a different way.”
BIOGRAPHY of Oleksandr Usyk:
Usyk was born in Simferopol, Crimean Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union on 17 January 1987, to parents originally from northern Ukraine. His mother was born in the Chernihiv region (in the village of Rybotyn, Korop Raion), while his father was a native of Sumy. His mother worked in construction and moved to Simferopol to study. His father was a military man who passed through Afghanistan, working as a security guard in Crimea, and the two met there. He is the first born of his family and he has two siblings. Until age 15, he played association football and was trained at the SC Tavriya Simferopol specialized sports school of Olympic reserve (club’s football academy). In 2002 Usyk switched to boxing. He is a graduate of Lviv State University of Physical Culture.
At the 2006 European Championships he won his first three matches but lost in the semi-final to Matvey Korobov.
He then moved up to light-heavyweight later and won the Strandja Cup in 2008.
In February 2008, he moved up another weight class and was sent to the Olympic qualifier in Roseto degli Abruzzi replacing European Champion Denys Poyatsyka. There he defeated world class Azeri Elchin Alizade and Daniel Price.
At the 2008 Olympic Games, Usyk outpointed Yushan Nijiati by 23–4, but lost to Clemente Russo by 4–7 in the quarter-final.
He dropped down to light-heavyweight and won gold at the 2008 European Championships, but later moved back up to heavyweight. At the 2011 World Amateur Boxing Championships he defeated Artur Beterbiev and Teymur Mammadov to win the heavyweight title and qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics.
At the 2012 Olympic Games in London, Usyk won the gold medal, outpointing Artur Beterbiev, Tervel Pulev and Italy’s Clemente Russo, outscoring him by 6–3 in the final.
Usyk retired from amateur boxing with a record of 335−15.
“Prior to turning professional, he competed in the heavyweight division (91+ kg) of the 2012–13 World Series of Boxing (WSB), as part of team Ukraine Otamans, winning all six of his bouts with two by stoppage (Junior Fa by UD, Eric Brechlin by 3rd round TKO, Joe Joyce by UD, Magomedrasul Majidov by UD, Matteo Modugno by 2nd round TKO and Mihai Nistor by UD).”
