Analysing Oleksandr Usyk’s Journey: A Look Back at His Last Three Fights Ahead of Tyson Fury Showdown

Oleksandr Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs) and Tyson Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs) will finally collide on Saturday, May 18, for their much-anticipated clash for the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Several platforms will stream the card on PPV, including DAZN, Sky Sports, TNT Sports and PPV.com. So far, we have heard from Fury ahead of this monster clash while bringing you everything you need to know regarding the bout and the breakdown of the fight by numbers.

Fury struggled in his last fight as he barely got by Francis Ngannou. As we build up to fight night, we have already looked at the last three fights of “The Gypsy King” and are now looking at the previous three fights of the Ukrainian.

The Last Three Opponents of Oleksandr Usyk

Anthony Joshua

Unified heavyweight champion Joshua had won his titles back from Andy Ruiz in their rematch, then defending successfully against Kubrat Pulev before taking on Usyk on September 25, 2021, at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Many predictions before had Joshua being too powerful for Usyk, but the Ukrainian – would not be denied.

He outboxed Joshua throughout, picking his punches brilliantly while controlling the distance, leaving the Brit frustrated. His excellent movement ensured Joshua missed with his attacks. It was a dominant performance from the Simferopol native, who showed his class.

Anthony Joshua II

On August 20, 2022, Usyk and Joshua met in a rematch for the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO titles, with the vacant Ring title also up for grabs at the Jeddah Superdome, Jeddah. The first fight saw the Ukrainian outbox AJ, winning by unanimous decision with the judges scorecards reading 117–112, 116–112 and 115–113. 

The second fight gave Joshua a chance to gain revenge and become a three-time world heavyweight champion. Despite an improved performance by AJ, Usyk still won by split decision, with one judge scoring the bout 115–113 to Joshua, while the other two scorecards were 115–113 and 116–112 for Usyk. Despite the split decision, Usyk was the dominant force in the second fight, making Joshua miss with his excellent movement. He also varied his attacks to impressive effect, which kept Joshua guessing the whole contest.

Daniel Dubois

Usyk defended his unified heavyweight titles against Daniel Dubois on August 26 at the Stadion Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland. Usyk had to overcome a difficult moment during the fight when Dubois hit him with a heavy body shot that was controversially ruled a low blow by referee Luis Pabon.

Despite the low blow controversy, Usyk outworked the Brit throughout, punching from a variety of angles, which Dubois struggled to deal with. The Ukrainian forced Dubois to take a knee in round eight before forcing the stoppage in the following round.