Oleksandr Usyk can’t be accused of not loving his own work.
The WBO, WBA, IBF, IBO heavyweight champion from Ukraine was asked in a recent interview to mention some of his favorite fights and he responded by saying that he has seen his two fights with former champion Anthony Joshua of London a “dozen times.”
“There are a lot of fights I strongly admire,” Usyk said in a video uploaded on his YouTube channel Usyk17. “I’ve rewatched some of them a dozen times. … I’ve rewatched my fight with Anthony Joshua seven, eight times; the second one, five times.”
Usyk, 36, defeated Joshua by unanimous decision in 2021 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London to win Joshua’s IBF, WBA, and WBO heavyweight titles. Their rematch took place the following August, in Saudi Arabia, and Usyk again won on points, although many believed the fight was more competitive.
Usyk is now in talks to face WBC titlist Tyson Fury for the undisputed heavyweight championship. Their fight could take place in the Middle East, but their promoters have indicated that they would stage the fight in the UK if they could not come to an agreement with a backer in the Oil Kingdom.
As for his all-time favorite fight, Usyk, a former undisputed cruiserweight champion, offered a more objective choice, the 15-round cruiserweight title contest between Evander Holyfield and Dwight Muhammad Qawi in 1986. Called by Ring magazine as one of the last great 15-round fights in boxing, Holyfield-Qawi was a competitive barnburner that ended with “The Real Deal” winning by split decision. The two would meet a year later, but Holyfield ended matters definitively, stopping Qawi in the fourth round.
“And I’ve rewatched the first championship match between Evander Holyfield and Dwight Quawi more than 10 times,” Usyk continued. “It was Holyfield’s first title fight, the 15 founder. Absolutely stunning! I’d refer to this fight as my favorite one, I guess.”