From his Olympic gold medal win for his native Ukraine in 2012 to his undisputed championship conquests of both the cruiserweight and heavyweight divisions, Oleksandr Usyk was already trending toward the idea of being considered one of the all-time best boxers of this century.
But what the 37-year-old Usyk accomplished on Saturday, in a thrilling and efficient unanimous decision win (116-112, 116-112, 116-122) over former two-time champion Tyson Fury (34-2-1, 24 KOs) in their unified title rematch, should give him a new title, altogether: one of the greatest heavyweights the sweet science has ever seen.
Seven months ago, Usyk hurt and dropped Fury to take a split-decision victory in the frontrunner for fight of the year. This time around, in the same venue of Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Usyk was even better against a much more fit and determined "Gypsy King."
Despite giving up 55 pounds in weight, eight inches in reach and six inches in height to the 6-foot-9 Fury, Usyk once again landed the bigger punches in a rematch that featured an abundance of close rounds. But it was how he executed such precision that was so impressive.
While Fury, 36, angrily left the ring after the decision was read following a trio of wide scores in such a close bout, the punch statistics greatly support the idea of Usyk being the rightful winner.
Usyk (23-0, 14 KOs) landed an insane 50% of power shots and 42% of his punches overall, according to CompuBox. Not only did he take away Fury's long jab for the second straight bout by marching forward and installing an insane pace from the opening round, he was better in just about every category by landing more jabs (73 to 44), total punches (179 to 144), body shots (32 to 8) and power shots (46 to 37).
More importantly, Usyk's head movement and defense were off the charts in their rematch, which allowed him to stand so close to Fury despite the reach disadvantage and still act like the bigger puncher. Usyk did so with tremendous accuracy, variety and thoughtful craft to his offensive attack.
It wasn't that long ago that the 6-foot-3 southpaw was considered too small for this super heavyweight era, which has featured the likes of Fury, 6-foot-7 Deontay Wilder, 6-foot-6 Anthony Joshua and 6-foot-5 Daniel Dubois. But the old adage of "skills pay the bills" couldn't be more apt when describing Usyk, who just so happens to have a daring nature, iron chin and an unflappable ability to keep even a maniacal Fury from intimidating him mentally.
Through seven bouts since he first debuted at heavyweight in 2019, Usyk now owns two wins over Fury, two over Joshua, the former unified king, and a 2023 knockout of Dubois, who rebounded to claim the vacant IBF title after Usyk was stripped in May for avoiding a mandatory challenge in favor of seeking a contractually obligated rematch with Fury.
Dubois interrupted Usyk's post-fight interview on Saturday asking for a rematch, which Usyk verbally obliged, giving him an opportunity to regain undisputed status. But even if Usyk walked away for good after such an impressive triumph, it's hard to shake the idea that we might be watching the most purely skilled heavyweight the division has seen since -- wait for it -- Muhammad Ali.
Usyk may not own devastating one-punch power, yet he landed the bigger shots for two consecutive fights against Fury despite giving up so much in terms of size and weight. And he's clearly one of the mentally strongest champions with the highest boxing IQ to enter the division in a very long time.
This century has produced a number of decorated champions who deserve historical comparison to those of yesteryear, from Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao to Canelo Alvarez and Naoya Inoue. But not only does Usyk deserve to have his name in the same sentence as those contemporaries, he remains in the midst of proving that he also belongs on the short list of the greatest heavyweights who could've competed in any era.