Fighter of the Year: Oleksandr Usyk

Fighter of the Year: Oleksandr Usyk

By Ben Gibson 

When I was choosing my fighter of the year a number of options came to mind, Fury, Lomachenko and even Joshua. However, but for me it was the 16-0 Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk who takes the honours as my fighter of the year.

Usyk the king of the Cruiserweight division has had an incredible year and is now hoping to advance into the heavyweight division over the next year or so.

In 2018 Usyk was able to unify the cruiserweight division in his opponents back yard when he defeated Murat Gassiev in Moscow in July. Usyk has had three fights this year, the first against Mairis Briedis in January in which he won by majority decision. The second was his unification bout against Gassiev and finally in November of this year he took on Tony Bellew in which he won by a technical knockout in the eighth round.

While Usyk began the year winning the World Super Series of Boxing he has ended this year hoping to make his mark in the heavyweight division. For all that he has accomplished this year Usyk has been a powerhouse and driving force in boxing.

The way he has been this year makes it difficult for you to not be excited to see how he performs next year in his new weight division. With the move up in weight, it gives us a number of tantalising and exciting possible future opponents for Usyk, and it looks only a matter of time before he will get a chance to fight for world heavyweight gold.

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