Alexander Usik is a famous Ukrainian boxer. He was born in the main city of Crimea on January 17, 1987. Among Sasha's childhood hobbies: wrestling, football, dancing. In sport No. 1, he achieved some success - he played as a midfielder in the youth team of Tavria. However, after some time, he realized that this was not his path and decided to part with football. Alexander started boxing relatively late, when he was 15 years old. His first coach was Sergei Lapin. The mentor saw in Sasha’s eyes a great desire to train and took him into his section. Alexander said that from the very beginning of classes he received the maximum load. But this did not stop him, but only provoked him. The guy studied 4 hours a day. Such persistence was not in vain - after some time, results appeared. As a result, of the hundreds of guys who trained with Lapin at that time, only the coach’s son and Alexander continued to train.
The sports path of Alexander Usik
In 2005, Usik won his first competition, held in Budapest. In the same year, the Crimean boxer participated in the European Youth Championship in Tallinn and in the tournament in Debrecen, Hungary (took 2nd place). Alexander performed in the category up to 75 kg. A year later, the first victory in the Ukrainian Championship was won.
Since 2008, Anatoly Lomachenko has become Alexander Usik’s coach. The Crimean's first serious tournament was the Olympic Games held in Beijing. Here our hero did not perform very well - he lost to Clemente Russo from Italy, the future silver medalist. By this time, Usik first moved to the light heavy weight category, and then to the heavy weight category. After unsuccessful Olympic Games, he returned to light heavyweight and won the European Championship, held in Liverpool, England. Then Alexander again moves to the heavyweights and becomes the best in Ukraine (3 times), and also wins several tournaments.
In 2011, Usik will experience the first significant success in his career - victory at the world championship. And the London Olympics became gold for Alexander - in the main battle, the Crimean defeated his old friend, Clemente Russo. At these games, our hero was the captain of the team.
After winning the Games, Alexander decides to start a professional career. He joins the Ukrainian Atamans team, which participated in the World Series of Boxing (WSB). Here Alexander performed very successfully. However, this was still only semi-professional boxing.
Professional boxing career of Alexander Usik
Then a significant event occurs in Usik’s career - he turns professional. On November 9, 2013, he made his debut as a pro - on this day he won by knockout over Felipe Romero (Mexico). A month later, the second fight took place - a victory over Epifanio Mendoza (Colombia). In the third and fourth fights, Usik was again successful - Ben Nsafoa (Germany) and Cesar David Krens (Argentina) were defeated.
The following year, on October 4, Usik won his first title as a professional. On this day in Lviv, he knocked out Daniel Brewer (South Africa) and became the interim WBO Inter-Continental champion. And on December 13 of the same year, Alexander faced the most serious test in his career - a fight with Dani Venter (South Africa). In the ninth round, the South African was knocked out. More than 3.5 million television viewers watched this fight.
In the next three fights, success was again on the side of the Crimean boxer. Victories were won over Andrey Knyazev (Russia), Johnny Muller (South Africa) and Pedro Rodriguez (Cuba). And on September 17, 2016, Alexander, having defeated the Pole Krzysztof Glowacki, became the WBO world champion (first heavyweight). 3 months later, our hero defended this title in a fight with Thabiso Mchunu (South Africa). On April 8, Usyk will defend his title for the second time in a fight with Michael Hunter from the USA.
Alexander is the leader of the BoxNation television channel (UK) rating among the most promising boxers on the planet. In the ring, Usik received the nicknames “Cat” and “Wolf” for his boxing style. Our hero’s personal life is also fine. Together with his wife Ekaterina, they are raising two children: daughter Elizaveta and son Kirill.
The world boxing champion said that in the conflict over the Ukrainian church he would “take the side of his home, his faith”
The famous Ukrainian boxer commented on the aggressive statements addressed to him by radicals who were not happy with his desire to protect the monks of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra from attempts to seize this shrine. The monks of the Lavra refused to move to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, remained loyal to the Moscow Patriarchate and now fear revenge from Ukrainian nationalists. Crimea-born Usik, who has recently not been shy about expressing his position on many political issues, said that he would side with the monks, regardless of whether Kyiv has a tomos of autocephaly or not.
In response, Ukrainian nationalists began to threaten the athlete, and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church awarded Usik the Order of St. Ilya Muromets, 1st degree.
You know that I have a lot of like-minded people,” said Tendril at the award ceremony. - Look, if someone says they want to hurt someone, you won’t defend the weak? Yes, this is what a sane person should do. This is fine. If you're walking down the street and you see someone hitting someone, you should stand up because it's indifference if you don't.
Why should some radically minded people go somewhere and take something? Where will the police be at this time? Where is the law anyway? Whose side will he be on? Naturally, I will take the side of my home, my faith, - quotes Mustache press service of the UOC. - Let's love, forgive and respect each other, and then everything will be fine with us.
Earlier, the leader of the Ukrainian Brotherhood party Dmitry Korchinsky threatened Mustache reprisal. “Ukrainian nationalists rarely go to boxing gyms, they often go to shooting ranges. I can tell you from my own experience: a bullet fired from a Kalashnikov assault rifle flies faster than the fist of any boxer,” Korchinsky wrote on social networks. “If he tries to wave his arms at street, it will end with a broken leg. This often happens to boxers."
Also, former fighter of the Donbass battalion Oleg Dub said that radicals can break through Mustache head if the boxer opposes them.
- Tendril declared that the Lavra should be protected from us?! He thinks that everything will be according to the rules, the judge, breaks between rounds, knockout countdown?! And here the champion can end up with a broken head. Well, how can you compete with the people, you idiot?! There, no one will throw a towel into the ring to save them,” Dub wrote on Facebook.
This summer, a 31-year-old native of Crimea renounced anti-Russian actions during a victorious fight in Moscow. For this, some Ukrainian radicals called Mustache"coward" and "collaborator of the Kremlin." Passions were also fueled by Alexander’s refusal to receive the title “Hero of Ukraine,” as well as his criticism of the social and religious policies of Kyiv. It got to the point that calls began to be made in Russia to give Alexander Russian citizenship, especially since he was born in Simferopol, and there are grounds for this.
If they offered me to change my citizenship, I would refuse,” the boxer retorted. - I'm Ukrainian. I have a country, I have a passport, a house, I have everything. I don’t need many passports, with the current one I can travel everywhere, and I do. Let the whole world offer me citizenship! I don't need any other passports except my own. I do not criticize our government, because I have no need to criticize anyone. I'm doing my job. It seems to me that each of us needs to come to the point of not criticizing someone, but minding our own business.
Position Mustache approved by many of his colleagues. In particular, the former world champion Russian .
Alexander has always been and remains an apolitical, and most importantly, a principled and consistent person. This can only inspire respect, -
Usik Alexander Alexandrovich is a professional boxer from Ukraine. Every day the number of his fans is only growing. Usik promotes healthy patriotism and defends the reputation of his country in the boxing ring. He has already won more than one title, won through the hard work of an athlete. And according to the AIBA rating, Usik took the place of the leader among heavyweight boxers.
Childhood and youth
On January 17, 1987, Alexander Alexandrovich Usik was born. The parents of the future athlete met in the city of Simferopol in 1984. Sasha’s mother, Nadezhda, comes from Rybotin, Koropsky district. Usik Alexander Anatolyevich, his father, grew up in Ukraine, in the Sumy region. The future famous boxer in his childhood attended sections on folk dancing, judo and football. Sasha was a member of the Tavria youth football team, where he was a left midfielder. But Usik didn’t show much promise on the football field, so he gave up this sport. He became interested in boxing quite late. It was only at the age of fifteen that he began to train.
The main thing is not to give up!
Sergei Lapin became Alexander's first coach. It was he who recognized the talent in Sasha. Seeing the spark in the guy, he accepted him into his boxing section. At that time there were hundreds of boys studying there. But subsequently, almost all of them dropped out. Only three people remained faithful to the training - Sergei Lapin, his son, who later became the champion of Ukraine, and, of course, Sasha himself. Remembering his youth now, Alexander Aleksandrovich Usik says that at the first training session he was “told on” in full. This really hurt the young man, so he began to train twice as long and harder. Every day Sasha spent four hours in the gym, not allowing himself to relax. After he noticed his first successes, Alexander truly fell in love with boxing. Many guys laughed at the fact that Sasha constantly “hangs out” in the gym. But it produced results.
Boxing is a big game. Beijing Olympics
When Sasha turned nineteen years old, he made his debut at the Ukrainian Championship. He competed in the 75 kg category. Alexander won his first fight. Immediately after this, Sasha was invited to the Ukrainian national team. At that time he only took second place on the team. But the chance for success was just around the corner for the young athlete. Denis Poyatsyk was supposed to compete at a licensed tournament in Italy, but he was unable to come to the competition due to injury. Usik Alexander Alexandrovich came out instead. He had to box with opponents who were eight kilograms heavier than him. As a result, Sasha received his ticket to the Olympic Games in Beijing. But Usik did not take these competitions seriously. That's why he lost to the Italian Clemente Russo in the quarterfinals.
On the way to success
In 2008, Alexander got a new coach - Anatoly Lomachenko. Under his leadership, the young boxer lost only one amateur fight. In 2009, in the semi-finals of the World Championship, Usik was unable to defeat Russian Egor Mekhontsev. But in 2011, Sasha experienced his first serious success. At the World Championship, Alexander Alexandrovich Usik defeated such strong rivals as Terlev Pulev, Artur Berterbiev, Sergey Korneev and Timur Mammadov. Fights with such serious opponents, which were crowned with success for Sasha, opened the way for him to the Olympic Games in London, where he went as captain of the team and one of the main favorites of the competition. And Usyk did not let down the people who believed in him. In the final he defeated the boxer from Italy, Clemente Russo. After which Alexander danced the hopak in the ring, which became the best advertisement for Ukraine in the world.
After my father's death
Alexander did not manage to fully enjoy his triumph at the Olympics. His father died. The cause of death was a heart attack. At this time, Usik was going to move to the professional ring. But for this he needed to go to the USA, and Sasha could not leave his family. As a result, he signed a contract with the Ukrainian Atamans team. He made his debut for them, defeating boxer Fa from Britain. In this project, Usik performed very successfully. He had victories over the German Eric Brechlin, the British Joseph Joyce, the Italian Matteo Modugno, and the Romanian Mihai Nistora.
Professional boxer
In 2013, Usik Alexander Alexandrovich turned professional. He received various offers from American and English promoters. But he chose the Klitschko brothers' company called K2 Promotions. James Ali Bashir became Alexander's new coach. He stated that in order to work with Sasha, he would fly not only to Ukraine, but even to the Moon. In 2013, on November 9, Usik had his debut fight in the company of Klitschko. His opponent in the ring was four-time Mexican champion Felipe Romero. In this fight, Sasha won by knockout. The next fights were also successful for Alexander. He defeated Colombian Epifanio Mendoza, German Ben Nsafoa and Argentinian Cesar David Krens.
Intercontinental Champion
In 2014, an important duel took place on October 4. Usyk boxed against Daniel Brewer. Having defeated his opponent by a heavy knockout in the seventh round, Alexander became the interim WBO Inter-Continental champion. In the same year, on December 13, the Ukrainian boxer faced the strongest opponent in his career - Dani Venter. The fight lasted nine rounds. As a result, Usyk knocked out Venter with a multi-punch combination. In mid-April 2015, Alexander entered the ring against South African boxer Johnny Muller. The fight was stopped by the referee when it became obvious that Usyk had caused serious damage to Muller. On December 12 of the same year, Alexander defended his title of intercontinental champion. He knocked out Pedro Rodriguez.
Against Krzysztof Glowacki
In 2016, on September 17, two of the strongest boxers met in the ring - the Pole Krzysztof Glowacki and the Ukrainian Alexander Aleksandrovich Usik, whose weight was 90.8 kg and height - 190 cm. It is noteworthy that before this fight Krzysztof had not fought not a single defeat. Despite the fact that the Pole tried to constantly increase the pace of the fight, he was unable to lock Usyk against the ropes. Alexander met Glowacki with a jab, and escaped his attacking blows on his feet. The fight lasted all twelve rounds. The Ukrainian boxer showed himself to be a fast and accurate athlete. The judges gave him victory by unanimous decision. Usik Alexander Alexandrovich, whose photo is shown above, became the world champion in the first heavyweight division in his tenth professional fight. With this, he broke the record of Evander Holyfield from the USA, who received the title of champion in his twelfth fight.
Last fight
On April 8, 2017, American boxer Michael Hunter and Alexander Aleksandrovich Usik entered the ring. The last fight for the Ukrainian boxer was a success, like all previous professional fights. The fight lasted twelve rounds. In the last minutes of the fight, Usyk knocked down Michael Hunter. Alexander won with a score of 117-110. He defended his championship title for the second time.
A few words about the athlete’s personal life
Usik’s wife, Ekaterina, studied with Alexander in parallel classes. The young people began dating from school. After some time, they began to live together. In 2009, the couple decided to formalize their relationship. At the moment, Sasha and Katya already have a daughter and two sons. But the athlete is not going to stop there and says that he wants another boy, because he is worried about the demographic growth in Ukraine.
He graduated from school No. 34 in Simferopol, where he studied with his future wife. As a child I played football.
Graduated from Lviv State University of Physical Culture
1999
He started boxing at the age of 15.
2006
In 2006, he took part in the European Championships, reaching the semi-finals, in which he lost to Russian Matvey Korobov in the weight category up to 75 kg.
2008
Then Usik moved to the light heavyweight category and in 2008 won the Strange Cup in Bulgaria. In February 2008, he was sent by the Olympic Committee to Roseto degli Abruzzi, replacing Denis Pojatsica. There he defeated world-class boxers, Azerbaijani Elchan Alizalde and British Danny Price. Took part in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. In the first round, Alexander easily defeated the Chinese boxer Yushan Niyati (23:4), and in the second round he lost to the future silver medalist, Italian Clemente Russo (4:7).
After losing at the Olympics, Alexander dropped to light heavyweight and won the European Championship in 2008, then moved back to the heavy weight category. Took a silver medal at the 2008 World Cup Championships.
2009
In 2009, he took part in the 2009 World Championships. I won a bronze medal with it. losing in the semifinals to Russian Egor Mekhontsev.
2011
In 2011, he defeated the Russian Artur Beterbiev at the World Championships, and in the final he defeated the Azerbaijani boxer Teymur Mammedov and won the gold medal.
2012 Olympic Games
1/8 finals - passed automatically
1/4 finals - defeated Artur Beterbiev (Russia) 17:13
1/2 finals - defeated Tervel Pulev 21:5
final - Clemente Russo won 14:11
He won the Olympic gold medal on August 11, 2012, defeating Italian boxer Clemente Russo in the final. The audience also remembered that after the final fight he danced the hopak
2012 Semi-professional league
In October 2012, Usik and Vasily Lomachenko officially completed their performances in the amateur ring, signed a contract with WSB and moved to semi-professional boxing and will now compete for the newly created club “Ukrainian Atamans”
2013
01/11 5th qualifying meeting. Uana Fa (Tonga, British Lionhearts team) won with a score of 50:45 among all judges
02/01 7th qualifying meeting. Defeated Eric Breschlin (Germany, team “German Eagles”) TKO3
03/01 10th qualifying meeting. Defeated Joseph Joyce (Great Britain, team “British Lionhearts”) with a score of 50:45 among all judges
03/22 Quarterfinals, 1st meeting. Magomedrasul Majidov (Azerbaijan, team “Azerbaijan. Lights of Baku”) won with a score of 50:45 among all judges. In the middle of the third round, an acute incident occurred when, after getting close in attack, Usik sat down. The judge counted the knockdown. Throughout the next round, Alexander brutally attacked Medzhidov. On the replay it was clear that the blow landed with an elbow in the lower abdomen. The judges noticed the violation and did not record a knockdown from a prohibited blow.
04/12 Semi-final, 1st meeting. Defeated Matteo Modugno (Italy, Italian Thunder team) TKO2
05/10 Final, 1st meeting. Defeated Mihai Nistor (Romania, Astana Wolves team) with a score of 49:46 for all judges
Awards
Order of Merit, 2nd class
Order of Merit, III degree - For significant personal contribution to the development of domestic sports, achieving high results, strengthening the international authority of Ukraine.
Best athlete of Ukraine 2012 - Received the title of best athlete of Ukraine 2012 according to the results of voting by Sport.ua
June 5, 2019
2011 - Order of Merit, III degree
2012 - Olympic Games - 1st place
2012 - Nikolay Manger Tournament - 1st place
2012 - Order of Merit, 2nd degree
2012 - Best athlete of Ukraine 2012
2014 - Winning the WBO intercontinental title
2015 - Defended WBO intercontinental title
2016 - World cruiserweight champion
2017 - WBO Intercontinental title defense
2018 - Winner of two championship belts according to WBO and WBC versions
Family of Alexander Usik
Wife - Ekaterina (married since 2009);
Son - Kirill;
Son - Mikhail;
Daughter - Elizabeth.
05.06.2019
Usik Alexander Alexandrovich
Ukrainian Boxer
Absolute World Champion
News and Events
06/05/2019 Ukrainian boxer Usik is stripped of the WBC championship belt
On June 5, 2019, the leadership of the World Boxing Council WBC stripped Ukrainian boxer Alexander Usik of the world champion title in the first heavyweight division. The athlete is officially declared a “champion on vacation.” If he returns to the first heavyweight division, the Ukrainian will be able to immediately claim the title by meeting its owner. After winning the super series, the boxer decided to move up to heavyweight. He was supposed to fight Carlos Takam, but due to Usik's injury, the fight was canceled. An athlete from Ukraine retains his WBO and WBF titles.
11/11/2018 Alexander Usik defended his title of absolute world boxing champion
07/21/2018 Murat Gassiev lost to Alexander Usik in the final of the world boxing super series
07/21/2018 Boxers Murat Gassiev and Alexander Usik will hold a Championship fight in the first heavyweight division
Ukrainian professional boxer.
Absolute Champion, World Champion according to IBF, WBA, WBO, WBC.
Winner of the Muhammad Ali Prize for the best Crusader in the World and The Ring title.
Alexander Usik was born on January 17, 1987 in Simferopol, Ukraine. As a child, he was involved in folk dancing, judo and football. He played for the Tavriya youth team as a left midfielder. Usik joined the boxing section at the age of fifteen. Trained under the guidance of coach Sergei Lapin.
In 2008, Usik began training with the father of his friend and future godfather Vasily Lomachenko, Anatoly Lomachenko, under whose leadership he lost only one fight in the amateurs - at the 2009 World Championships, where he lost to Russian Egor Mekhontsev in the semi-finals.
The first serious success was the victory at the 2011 World Championships, where Usik defeated the Bulgarian Terlev Pulev, the Russian Artur Berterbiev, the Belarusian Sergei Korneev, and in the final fight the Azerbaijani Timur Mammadov.
Usik went to the Olympic Games in London as the captain of the team and one of the main favorites of the Games, which he confirmed by winning in turn against the same Artur Beterbiev and Tervel Pulev, and in the final fight defeating the Italian boxer Clemente Russo 14:11. After the fight, Alexander, who became famous, performed the hopak in the ring for the first time.
The triumph of the Olympics was overshadowed by the death of his father, Alexander Usik Sr., who died of a heart attack without waiting for his son to return after the Olympic Games. Perhaps the death of his father became one of the factors in the continuation of Usik’s career - he no longer saw himself in amateur boxing, to succeed as a professional he had to go to America, and he could not leave his family. As a result, Usik signed a contract with the Ukrainian Atamans team created by the World Series of Boxing, for whom he made his debut on January 11 in Kyiv with a victory over the British Fa.
Usik’s performance in the WSB project was very successful: Alexander defeated all six of his opponents, including German Eric Brechlin, British Joseph Joyce, Italian Matteo Modugno and Romanian Mihai Nistor.
In 2013, Alexander Usik retrained as a professional. The guy received offers from companies in different countries, but he chose the company of the Klitschko brothers and the company of Vladimir and Vitaly - K2 Promotions. James Ali Bashir was appointed Sasha's coach. The mentor himself stated that for the sake of cooperation with the young champion, he was ready to move not only to Ukraine, but also to the Moon. In the debut battle for the company, Usyk defeated Mexican champion Felipe Romero. The fight ended in a knockout. More triumphs followed.
From October 2014 to December 2015, Alexander won and defended the WBO title, defeating famous opponents: Daniel Brewer, South African Dani Venter, Russian boxer Andrey Knyazev, Johnny Muller, Pedro Rodriguez. In March 2016, it was announced that during one of the sparring sessions during preparation for the fight against the British Stephen Simmons, Alexander suffered a leg injury. The fight scheduled for April 23, 2016 was cancelled.
After recovery, Alexander decides to fight for the title of World Champion, which took place on September 17, 2016. The Ukrainian hero met with the world champion in the 1st heavyweight according to the WBO, the undefeated Pole Krzysztof Glowacki. For most of the fight, Glowacki moved forward, trying to put pressure on the challenger. Usik worked on counterattacks and tried not to get involved in the “chopping block.” The Pole increased the pace of the fight from round to round, but was unable to catch and lock his opponent against the ropes. The Ukrainian athlete met his opponent well with a jab, and avoided the champion’s attacks on his feet. Overall, Usyk was noticeably faster and more accurate. The fight lasted all 12 rounds. The judges unanimously gave the victory to Alexander. Official scores: 119-109 and 117-111.
From December 2016 to April 2017, Usyk successfully defended his Title twice, defeating South African Thabiso Mchunu and American Michael Hunter.
In Odessa, on August 26, 2017, the third defense of Alexander Usik’s title was planned, but soon information appeared about the establishment of a unique tournament in the first heavyweight division of the World Boxing Super Series. Usik’s team gave preference to the tournament. Applications for participation in which, in addition to Usik, were submitted by three more current world champions: Murat Gassiev, Mairis Briedis, Yunier Dorticos and other top boxers in the division.
In September 2017, the quarterfinal match of the World Boxing Super Series tournament took place in Berlin, in which Alexander Usik met with the former world champion, the eminent German of Bosnian origin, Marco Huck. From the first rounds, Oleksandr Usyk controlled the course of the fight, regularly disturbing Marco Huck with deuces, but he showed good resilience and held all the missed blows, counterattacking dangerously. And yet Usyk was much faster, more technical, winning round after round. Hook had no choice but to box dirty, but Usik, who covered the back of his head during clinches, was ready for this, and the referee, who repeatedly warned Hook, once deducted a point from him for hitting the back of the head of Usik who slipped at 8 -th round. In the last rounds, Alexander's advantage was undeniable, and it all ended in the tenth round, when, after a long attack by Usik, during which Hook stood at the ropes and took blows, the fight was stopped by the referee. Result: victory of Alexander Usik by technical knockout in the tenth round. Thus, Alexander Usik retained his WBO world champion belt and reached the semi-finals of the World Boxing Super Series.
The fight between Alexander and Mairis Briedis took place on January 27, 2018. The battle turned out to be interesting and lasted 12 rounds. As a result, the judges preferred Alexander by a slight margin. The boxer won two championship belts, WBO and WBC, and reached the final.
The official fight between Alexander Usik and Murat Gassiev took place on Saturday evening, July 21, 2018 at the Olympic Stadium in Moscow. The fight lasted all 12 rounds with a variable advantage. The Ukrainian athlete attacked more often; his extensive experience showed in the professional fight. In the Championship fight, Alexander Usyk won by decision of the judges, becoming the absolute world champion in the first heavyweight version of WBA super, WBC, IBF, WBO and vacant The Ring titles, linear champion, champion according to TBRB, and also won the Muhammad Ali Cup and a cash prize in the amount of 10 million dollars.
In Manchester, England, on November 11, 2018, a fight for the world title took place according to versions: WBC, WBA, IBF, WBO. Ukrainian boxer Alexander Usik defended his title of absolute world champion in a duel with Briton Tony Bellewon, winning by knockout in the eighth round.
WBC Management June 5, 2019 deprived Ukrainian boxer Alexander Usik of the world title in the first heavyweight division. The athlete is officially declared a “champion on vacation.” If he returns to the first heavyweight division, the Ukrainian will be able to immediately claim the title by meeting its owner. After winning the super series, the Ukrainian decided to move up to heavyweight and was supposed to fight Carlos Takam, but due to Usik’s injury, the fight was canceled. The boxer retains his WBO and WBF titles.
Sports Achievements of Alexander Usik
2009 - World Championship - 3rd place
2011 - World Championship - 1st place
2011 - Nikolai Manger Tournament - 2nd place
2011 - Order of Merit, III degree
