Is Usyk A Heavyweight Great? (It’s Complicated)

Ever since Oleksandr Usyk retained his undisputed heavyweight championship of the world with a repeat victory over Tyson Fury, there’s been no shortage of chatter about just where he might rank in the history of the all-time great big men. Since Usyk isn’t yet retired and may still have a number of significant fights left before all is said and done, this is essentially a premature discussion. But what we can now say with certainty is that his legacy will be a complicated one to sort out, even after he hangs up the gloves.

So first off, there’s no doubt that Usyk is a Hall of Famer and a champion for the ages, clearly one of the very best of his time. That’s the easy part. But how can we compare him to the heavyweights of past generations? How does his dominance at cruiserweight fit into his legacy? Or are we better off comparing him only to his contemporaries, even those in different weight classes?  

I want to be clear that I am attempting to assess Usyk’s legacy, not hypothetical matchups or pound-for-pound rankings. My fundamental question is this: What is the best way to evaluate and appreciate the ring achievements of Oleksandr Usyk? I’m also taking stock of his professional accomplishments here and nothing else; Usyk was an outstanding amateur champion, but that’s another discussion entirely.

As of right now, Usyk has only seven fights in the heavyweight division, a paltry number which makes it pretty much impossible to say he can be regarded as a better heavyweight than any of the greats in The Fight City’s Top 12 list, all of those pugilists enjoying long runs as big men, and frequently facing other champions or top contenders. That’s not to say Usyk wouldn’t beat any of them head-to-head—there are good arguments that he could have, and would have—but in terms of career-long accomplishments, he simply hasn’t been a big man long enough to stack up with those who roamed the division for years on end, and in many cases for their whole careers. 

The closest and most apt comparison might well be Evander Holyfield, who was also a cruiserweight champion before moving up, but Holyfield then spent quite a long time as a heavyweight. With Usyk currently at age 37, it’s unlikely he will get anywhere close to the numbers “The Real Deal” put up. If he competes for a few more years, there’s a chance Usyk might get into the discussion, but considering the activity rate of today’s fighters, “The Cat” might not even log a dozen heavyweight matches before he’s done.

Given all of this, one must also consider that five of Usyk’s seven heavyweight fights had major belts on the line, with four of those against legitimate champions (Anthony Joshua and Fury). Usyk also fought top contenders in Dereck Chisora and Daniel Dubois. It’s been a short run, often with only one match a year, but the competition has been the best on offer for the Ukrainian, which is to his credit.

So then let’s stop here and take a look back at Usyk’s accomplishments in the cruiserweight division. A much younger weight class, there’s not nearly as much history here, but with what we have to work with, it’s easy to say Usyk is one of the top to ever compete at the 200 pound limit. He has a much longer resumé there as he dominated and cleaned out the entire division before moving up, in the process unifying all four belts and beating the best opposition he could possibly face in Tony Bellew, Murat Gassiev and Mairis Briedis.

Again, Holyfield is probably the best comparison here as another undisputed cruiserweight king, and while “The Real Deal” fought in the three belt era, his accomplishments are no less impressive. He defeated Dwight Muhammad Qawi twice, and also Carlos de León, which stacks up nicely with Usyk’s competition. If many regard Holyfield as the best cruiserweight of all time, then Usyk has to be ranked just below him.

One must also consider that cruiserweights would have been heavyweights before about 1980. The great Rocky Marciano never weighed-in over 200 pounds in his career, and yet we rank him as one of the best big men ever. This sparks the argument of whether we evaluate and classify fighters through history by extant weight class or by what they weighed, a debate fight fans have been engaging in for years.

So if evaluating “The Cat” as a heavyweight is problematic, what about assessing him then in comparison to his contemporaries? Indeed, this might be the most accurate place to see where Usyk stacks up. He competes in an era of relatively little activity for the top boxers, where unifying four belts in a division is the supreme accomplishment. From that perspective, the best fighters to compare him to right now would be Canelo Alvarez, Terrence Crawford, and Nayoa Inoue. All have been undisputed champs at some point in their career, and all have peaked in the last decade (or, with Inoue, are at their peak right now).

For me, Crawford, Inoue, and Usyk are the top three fighters of this era. A little over a year ago, I put Inoue at number one, pound-for-pound over Bud and Usyk, but since then Usyk has defeated Fury twice, putting him at least on the level of the other two. My argument in that article was about the best fighter of the moment, not evaluating legacies, though admittedly there’s some crossover. I’m willing to listen to arguments for any of these champions having the best professional legacy as in truth there’s really not much daylight between these three. 

The thing keeping Canelo just a touch below them, in my mind, is that he ducked Golovkin for years and, as far as I’m concerned, lost their first fight (officially a draw, with one of the worst scorecards in recent memory).

What makes Usyk different from Bud and The Monster is that, having conquered the heavyweights, there’s nowhere else for him to go. His rivals here can venture upward as long as their bodies allow it, but heavyweight is the top. That’s a feature and a bug. Usyk is king of boxing’s glamour division where the most famous names reside, but he’ll never top another weight class. All he can do is fight the best big men on offer. Given the state of boxing right now, especially regarding activity rate, Usyk, Crawford, and Inoue have the best results against the best competition. Ranking them amongst each other is a tough chore, but one that shows how extraordinary they are. 

To sum up, Usyk’s not done yet, so there can be no real conclusion at this point as to where he ranks historically. What we can say however, is that ranking him among his fellow greats, or in any context for that matter, is not easy. Comparing across eras and weight classes never is. But from a fan’s standpoint, that’s the fun of it, and one of the reasons why my barber and I can get so enthralled talking about a fighter like Oleksandr Usyk that I end up making him late for his next appointment. So I look forward to all the future discussions about Usyk and his place among the legends of decades past, a fun diversion which can only be topped by watching “The Cat” in action and seeing who he will fight next. Let’s not take it for granted, fellow fight fans: Usyk is one of the great ones and his career is far closer to its end than its beginning.       

–Joshua Isard