Oleksandr Usyk wants to go out with a bang.

Turning 40 years of age in January, unified heavyweight boxing
champion Usyk (25-0, 16 KOs) has decided to relinquish his WBA, WBC
and IBF belts. The Ukrainian wishes for those next in line to vie
for his old belts, while he has his sights set on one final bout.
He has not tipped his hat as to whether it would be a rematch
against a former foe like Rico
Verhoeven or Tyson Fury,
or even if there would be any gold on the line for his final
bout.

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Usyk took the boxing world by storm, crushing names like Tony
Bellew and Chazz Witherspoon as a cruiserweight before moving up to
the heaviest division. There, he picked up the WBO intercontinental
strap from Derek Chisora in 2020, and looked nowhere but up. A year
later, the 18-0 big man challenged Anthony
Joshua for the WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO belts, and he claimed them
all by picking up a decision after 12 rounds of combat.

Rematches upon rematches upon rematches

The newly minted unified heavyweight champion achieved this feat by
winning the rematch with Joshua to score the vacant The Ring
magazine belt. Most of the last boxing matches in the career of the
6-foot-3 striker have been rematches, as he faced Joshua twice,
Fury twice and Daniel
Dubois twice in his last seven outings. He has won them all,
although earned more than one close nod to break ties with
judges.

In May, Usyk departed from the traditional list of contenders and
mandatory defenses to throw down with “The King of Kickboxing”
Rico
Verhoeven. The one-bout boxing vet acquitted himself extremely
well in the match, winning most of the rounds on many observers’
scorecards. Usyk ultimately was granted an early knockdown of
Verhoeven late in their match that allowed the Dutchman to recover
more than standard. He also had the fight stopped early in his
favor due to questionable refereeing, with the intervention coming
after the bell rang in the midst of a not-overly-destructive
combination.

“Friends, good afternoon, everyone,” Usyk said on a video posted
Friday to his social media. “Today is Friday the weather is
beautiful and it’s a good day to say that I want to vacate all the
belts I currently hold. I want to make them available so the guys
who are next in line can fight for them. Friends, I’m leaving the
belts, but I’m not leaving the sport, because I still have my last
dance. I want to thank everyone, I have great respect for all
organizations…there’s more to come! Glory to God, and glory to
Ukraine!”

IMAK ADMIN

By IMAK ADMIN

Internationaler Kampfkunst und Kampfsport Kleinanzeiger