Twenty-four fights. Twenty-four wins. Zero losses. Two undisputed championships across two weight classes. Before his title defence against Rico Verhoeven this Saturday in Giza, Oleksandr Usyk stands as the most decorated active boxer on the planet — and the argument for all-time great grows stronger with every fight.
From Simferopol to the Olympic Podium
Usyk was born on January 17, 1987, in Simferopol, Crimea, Ukraine. He started boxing young and built one of the most accomplished amateur records of his generation — 335 wins and just 15 losses over a career that spanned European and world championships.
The trophies came in waves. European Amateur gold in 2008. World Amateur gold in 2011. Then London 2012: Olympic heavyweight gold. He arrived as a professional with a pedigree that most boxers spend careers chasing and never find.
That foundation showed. He didn’t need years of developmental grinding. By the time he turned pro in 2013, the technical framework was already complete: precise footwork, high defensive guard, slick movement, and a left hook that arrived at uncomfortable angles. The only question was whether it would translate at world level.
Undisputed at Cruiserweight — A First in History
It translated. In 2016, Usyk stopped Krzysztof Głowacki by unanimous decision to claim the WBO cruiserweight title. It was the first of four belts he would eventually collect at 200 lbs.
The World Boxing Super Series tournament — the first major multi-belt round-robin in modern boxing — gave Usyk the stage his talent deserved. He came through Marco Huck (TKO), Mairis Briedis (split decision in Riga), and Murat Gassiev (unanimous decision) to win all four cruiserweight world titles in 2018. No boxer had ever done it before. He became the first undisputed cruiserweight champion of the four-belt era — the first Ukrainian undisputed champion in any weight class, in any era.
That cruiserweight reign was statistically complete. Usyk didn’t leave an argument open. He won every significant fight available to him and then walked away from a division he had dominated to start again at heavyweight.
Climbing to Heavyweight — and Beating Joshua
The move to heavyweight in 2019 brought the natural doubts. He was small for the division. The physical gap between elite 200 lb fighters and elite unlimited heavyweights is real. Critics pointed to his reach, his chin, his lack of heavyweight punch resistance at world level.
He made two warm-up fights and then answered every question at once.
September 2021. Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London. Anthony Joshua — two-time heavyweight champion, 24-1, physically imposing — expected to provide the first real test of Usyk’s heavyweight credentials. Usyk won by unanimous decision. Joshua had never been outboxed like that at heavyweight. Usyk’s footwork neutralised the reach, his movement made Joshua’s jab miss, and his combination work found angles that Joshua simply couldn’t close off. The WBA, WBO, and IBF titles changed hands without a knockdown.
Joshua triggered an immediate rematch. August 2022, Jeddah. Same result. Usyk won again — this time by split decision — and went home with the belts still on his shoulder. Two fights, two wins, same opponent. The argument for Usyk as heavyweight elite was no longer an argument.
The Night He Became Undisputed
One belt remained: the WBC title, held by Tyson Fury. The fight boxing had been chasing for years finally landed on May 18, 2024, in Riyadh.
Usyk vs Fury I went the full twelve rounds. It was close, ugly in patches, and ultimately decided by split decision — in Usyk’s favour. He became the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999. In the four-belt era, no one had ever done it before him.
The rematch followed in December 2024. Fury came in with adjustments. Usyk won more clearly — unanimous decision. Fury had no answer for the movement, the angles, the consistent output. Two fights against one of boxing’s most decorated heavyweights. Two wins.
Two-Time Undisputed — the Muhammad Ali Comparison
Usyk then turned his attention to a rematch with Daniel Dubois, who had won the IBF belt during the Fury period. On July 19, 2025, at Wembley Stadium in front of 90,000 people, Usyk stopped Dubois by knockout in the fifth round.
The result made him a two-time undisputed heavyweight champion — the first man to hold that distinction since Muhammad Ali. He is also the only boxer in history to become undisputed champion at both cruiserweight and heavyweight, a feat that hasn’t been matched since Evander Holyfield in 1990 — and Holyfield never did it in the four-belt era.
The statistical company he keeps is extraordinary. He beat Anthony Joshua twice. Beat Tyson Fury twice. Beat Daniel Dubois twice. Every significant heavyweight of the current era has met Usyk and left with a loss. His record stands at 24-0 with 15 stoppages.
The Verhoeven Fight and What Comes Next
This Saturday in Giza, Egypt, Usyk defends the WBC heavyweight title against Rico Verhoeven — the undisputed kickboxing heavyweight world champion and one of the most decorated combat sports athletes of the last decade. Verhoeven is stepping into a professional boxing ring for only his second time. The discipline gap is real.
What Verhoeven brings is size (6’5″, 265 lbs) and an elite combat sports athletic profile. What he lacks is the technical boxing architecture that Usyk has built over 25 years. The same footwork and angles that neutralised Joshua and Fury don’t become less effective against a fighter who has spent his career in a different sport.
After Verhoeven, the most natural fight remaining for Usyk is Tom Aspinall — the interim UFC heavyweight champion — or a rematch cycle with whoever claims the belts outside the WBC picture. The division’s story right now revolves around who can make the case against a man who has already beaten everyone put in front of him.
The Legacy Case
Usyk’s place in boxing history doesn’t depend on Saturday. It was already secured before he walked into Wembley last July.
Two undisputed championships. Two weight classes. Olympic gold. Wins over the six best heavyweights of his era. A technical style so complete that fighters who outweigh him by 30 lbs spend 12 rounds trying to find an answer and leave without one.
The debate about the greatest heavyweights of all time — Ali, Louis, Lewis, Tyson — now has a live participant. At 39 years old, with no losses on his record, Oleksandr Usyk is still adding to his résumé. The Eagle of Ukraine hasn’t finished yet.
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