The best punch trackers on the market
26th August 2022
By: Rich Lopez
Oleksandr Usyk is the New Pound For Pound King
Since Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s defeat to Dmitrii Bivol back in May of this year, the debate on who is the new pound for pound king has been discussed. Many names have come up in that conversation such as: Terence Crawford, Naoya Inoue, Errol Spence Jr and Dmitrii Bivol. There are even some people that feel
Saul “Canelo” Alvarez is the number one fighter pound for pound still. All fighters mentioned make a strong case for that position. However, after his split decision victory over Anthony Joshua over the weekend, Oleksandr Usyk is the new pound for pound king.
His resume speaks volumes. Oleksandr Usyk from Ukraine, was breaded to become a world champion from the start. The 35-year-old southpaw had an outstanding amateur career with a 335-15 record and was a gold medalist in the Heavyweight division at 2012 Olympics Games. Usyk started his professional career the following year in 2013. After winning his first nine professional fights, he defeated Krzysztof Glowacki by unanimous decision for the WBO World Cruiserweight Title. To prove that he was the best cruiserweight in the division, Usyk participated in the World Boxing Super Series (WBSS) tournament in 2017. The tournament put together the best fighters in the cruiserweight division. When the tournament came to an end in 2018, Usyk won the final fight by defeating Murat Gassiev by unanimous decision and won all the world title belts (WBC, WBA, WBO and IBF). Most importantly, Usyk was awarded the Ring Magazine belt and he became the Lineal Champion. This also earned Usyk the Fighter of the Year Honors for 2018 for Ring Magazine.
After Usyk made one successful defense of his cruiserweight titles, he tested the waters at heavyweight. After two solid wins at heavyweight, he challenged Anthony Joshua for the WBA, IBF, and WBO Heavyweight titles in 2021. Anthony Joshua was considered the second best heavyweight of the division. In a minor upset, Usyk clearly out boxed Joshua in the U.K. which was Joshua’s hometown. This past weekend was the rematch between the two fighters. Even though Joshua fought better, Usyk once again clearly defeated Joshua by split decision. It should be noted that judge Glenn Feldman gave the fight to Joshua to indicate it was a close fight but it was not. It was just a bad score.
CHECK OUT THE BEST PUNCH TRACKERS ON THE MARKET
After the win over Joshua the second time around, Usyk has established himself as the best fighter in the world today. The fight with Joshua was also for the Lineal heavyweight championship of the world due to the retirement of Tyson Fury. With this win, Uysk has also punched his way as a first ballot hall of famer when his time comes. Like Usyk, the last fighter that was the undisputed cruiserweight champion that moved up to become the lineal heavyweight champion was Evander Holyfield. This is a big achievement and one for the history books. In addition, what is more impressive is that Usyk has accomplished all of this with only having 20 fights.
His current record is 20-0, 13 KO’s. One more final thing to consider is that Usyk is a true road warrior. All of his world title fights have been on the road and he beat everyone. That’s quite a run and why he should be respected. Looking back on what Usyk has accomplished, there is no debate as to why he is the number one pound for pound fighter in the world today.
By Rich Lopez
Photo Credit: Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Couldridge
