Being only the second undisputed cruiserweight champion to win the undisputed heavyweight crown will always be a big part of the Oleksandr Usyk story.
It will necessitate comparisons to the great Evander Holyfield for as long as fans and writers discuss the sport.
Now imagine for a moment that there was no cruiserweight division.
Imagine that in the late 1970s, boxing had elected to leave things as they were. History recalls Jack Root as the first light heavyweight champion in 1903. The first cruiserweight title fight, a draw between Marvin Camel and Mate Parlov, didn’t happen until 1979. For seventy-six years, the heavyweight division started at anything over the light heavyweight limit of 175 pounds.
Cruiserweight, a division whose weight limit varied between 185 and 190 pounds initially based on sanctioning body rules, eventually settling at 200 pounds even, has now been a part of boxing for more than forty years.
If there had been no cruiserweight when Oleksandr Usyk turned professional as a 2012 Olympic Gold Medalist at heavyweight, the 200 and change pounds Usyk carried on his 6’3 frame would have been a pretty solid foundation for a heavyweight career. For most of heavyweight history, that would have been considered a good sized big man.
With cruiserweight in place, Usyk was able to clean out one of the best collections of talent that division has ever amassed in its forty years. He was able to win the World Boxing Super Series, unify all the titles, and leave his footprint on the class.
With cruiserweight in place, Tyson Fury, Deontay Wilder, and Anthony Joshua all had moments where their fans could argue they were the best heavyweight in the world. Usyk, who turned pro in 2013, likely wouldn’t have factored in before Fury upset Wladimir Klitschko for the lineal crown in 2015…but what if he was contending at heavyweight instead of cruiserweight by 2016?
What if, instead of names like Glowacki, Hunter, and Huck, Usyk was chasing Joshua or Wilder years earlier?
The real question being approached here, the question that jumps off the page after Usyk’s thrilling victory over Fury on Saturday is this: what if Oleksandr Usyk, even dating to his excellent cruiserweight run, has been the best heavyweight in the world all along? What if they were all just keeping his seat warm?
We’ll never know for sure what would have happened then but that’s the new context Usyk created on Saturday in Saudi Arabia. In what was arguably the best fight for the lineal heavyweight crown since Riddick Bowe-Evander Holyfield I in 1992, Fury and Usyk brought out the best in each other over twelve highly skilled rounds.
Usyk got off to a fast start, having a case for a clean sweep of the frames before the massive Fury started to take over. In round six, a Fury uppercut seemed to hurt Usyk and there was reason to believe the fight was turning quickly against Usyk.
The tide turned again late in round seven. Usyk, who had success early with a targeted body attack that opened up his attack upstairs, got in some good work again late in the seventh and followed up with a big round eight.
Then came round nine. Trainer Stephen “Breadman” Edwards likes to say that the bigger puncher in any fight is the fighter who can take the other man’s punches better. It turned out Usyk was the puncher on Saturday. Referee Mark Nelson was within his rights to stop the fight during Usyk’s thrilling assault. Viewers can debate the way he handled the moment, and the timing of when he finally determined Fury falling into the ropes had resulted in a knockdown, but that the fight continued was no problem.
Usyk did enough to win the tenth and eleventh to secure victory. Fury did enough in the twelfth to win the frame and fully display recuperative powers the division may not have seen since Holyfield’s peak.
But when the scores were read, the judges got it right. The fight was close. It was competitive. But the man who deserved to win, who earned victory, had his hand raised.
Oleksandr Usyk is the best heavyweight in the world, its undisputed king, and stands alone atop the mountain as the measuring stick for the entire sport. Go ahead and debate pound-for-pound but remember that there is no magic wand that makes everyone the same size. The real king of boxing, forever and always, is the best heavyweight in the world.
That position is not up for debate. Until someone beats Usyk, sanctioning body moves be damned, there can be no real “dispute.” He is the undisputed man.
In victory, he has for the moment rewritten the story of the entire post-Klitschko era at heavyweight as a tale leading toward his coronation.
Futures: Moments don’t last forever. Fury has an immediate rematch he can cash in and while it might not happen in October, it’s going to happen. Fury showed between the first and second Deontay Wilder fights that he’s capable of making adjustments. Against Usyk, he opted to play counter-puncher and work going backwards. Could he come forward and try to press Usyk into defeat? Can he join Floyd Patterson, Muhammad Ali, Holyfield, George Foreman, and Lennox Lewis as the only two-time lineal kings at heavyweight?
We’re going to find out. If he can’t, Fury can look back with pride in knowing what he gave of himself in two of the all-time great heavyweight title clashes: his rubber match with Wilder and loss to Usyk.
Conversely, at 37, how long can Usyk keep going at this level? He wasn’t just the smaller man on Saturday. He was also the older one. Could he use a more aggressive Fury’s efforts against him and finish what he started the first time? If he can, does he have a few more gems in him to finish the clean out of the division?
There are other fighters Usyk could add to his ledger that would further shine it up. The IBF belt will soon be stripped and decided in a clash between Filip Hrgovic and Daniel Dubois. Hrgovic is a deserving contender. Dubois would have a rematch angle based on the low blow controversy in the first Usyk fight.
Neither fight would set the world abuzz.
If Wilder beats Zhang Zhilei in June, a Wilder-Usyk fight could be an eventual destination. Wilder would give Usyk a chance to fight someone roughly his size while cashing in on the lucrative US pay-per-view market. Zhang, conversely, would give him another monster to slay. Joseph Parker, coming off wins over Wilder and Zhang, has earned a title shot as well.
With two wins over Joshua, a victory over Fury, and in a future where he beat Fury again, Usyk would only need a couple more to say he had truly cleared the field. Even Holyfield never quite did that at heavyweight.
Usyk has only 22 professional fights (27 if we include the World Series of Boxing), hasn’t lost any of them, and feels like he hasn’t missed a thing. There’s probably only a handful more before his exit. He’s maximized his minutes en route to what may arguably end up as the best career with less than thirty fights since James Jeffries more than a century ago.
No matter what happens from here, Usyk has joined the ranks of the all-time greats. Enjoy him while he lasts.
Enjoy him while he finishes his case for just how great that all-time greatness is.
Cliff’s Notes…
Anthony Cacace’s upset of Joe Cordina was one of the best examples of that’s why they fight fight the fights…Jai Opetaia’s late fade against Mairis Briedis displayed two things. The first was that even an aging Briedis is still dangerous until the final bell. The second is that Opetaia needs to be proud of his lineal cruiserweight crown and get to heavyweight quickly. The effort to make weight isn’t worth it when heavyweight is right there…Emanuel Navarrete’s loss on Saturday was earned and probably the best thing that could happen to him. He showed he has no business at lightweight and the idea of putting him in with a Vasyl Lomachenko or Shakur Stevenson would have gone terribly…The good news in Denys Berinchyk’s win is it narrows the unification possibilities at lightweight. Navarrete could have been an option for Lomachenko but one has to think now the lane is even more wide open to make a Tank Davis-Lomachenko superfight if Davis defeats Frank Martin this summer…Results for the weekend are now reflected in both the encyclopedia and champion’s sections of The Corner Stool. Feel free to take a look and recommend to a friend. Sharing is caring.
Loma-Tank isn't happening. After all the acrimony between Top Tank and PBC over PBC playing keep away from Crawford, I'd be shocked if Top Rank put any of their titlists in with Tank before a round robin featuring Loma, Shakur, Berinchyk, Muratalla, and Keyshawn Davis takes place. It sucks that it's like that but it is what it is. Bob's already been quoted as saying Shakur-Loma is happening later this year if Shakur gets through his defense unscathed. Berinchyk was quoted as saying either Shakur, Muratalla or Keyshawn are next. Tank is going to have to find PBC fighters to keep him busy unless TR relents.
Great read brother.