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5 MIND-BLOWING FACTS FROM USYK’S SENSATIONAL TIME IN THE WBSS PhilBoxing.com Sat, 25 Jul 2020  We are celebrating the two-year anniversary of Aleksandr Usyk’s historic Ali Trophy win in Moscow with 5 incredible stories from his highly-entertaining World Boxing Super Series campaign. 1. ’I am feel’ – Broken English turns into T-shirt and music video “Only one day to the fight now, how do you feel?” Sometimes it takes a simple question to get a good answer, but no one expected Usyk to come up with a quote that instantly became a trademark for the boxer. Usyk’s answer was simply: “I am feel”. It takes the brain some time to analyze the answer, but the conclusion is, like so much else with Usyk, that it’s brilliant! Usyk almost invented a new language that day at the weigh-in of the Usyk-Huck WBSS quarter-final in Berlin. And later he embraced his linguistic innovation with a cool T-shirt with the legendary quote and a music video where he makes fun of his alternative and very funny version of the English language. Check out the video here. 2. Turning the other cheek Turn the other cheek in boxing is usually a really, really bad gameplan, but it can work in the build-up to a fight. After the press conference during the Usyk-Huck fight week, Marco Huck got aggressive and pushed Usyk after the face-off. Usyk ‘sresponse was firstly an obligingly smile, and then three days later a 10th round stoppage, as Usyk was battering Huck all over the ring at the Max-Schmeling-Halle. 3. Historic Cruiserweight Ruler Aleksandr Usyk in the first boxer ever to hold the four major belts solely in the cruiserweight division. He picked up the WBO title against Krzysztof Glowacki in 2016. Since then through the WBSS he added the WBC championship against Mairis Briedis and the WBA and IBF straps when beating Murat Gassiev in Moscow in the final for the Muhammad Ali Trophy where The Ring belt was also on the line. Earlier Evander Holyfield was recognized as the undisputed and best cruiserweight on the planet, when he defeated Carlos de Leon in April 1988 to add the WBC to his WBA and IBF titles. At the time, boxers needed three world titles to be considered undisputed. But the Ukrainian can still look to Evander Holyfield as the benchmark for the boxer who made the move from cruiserweight to heavyweight with great success. 4. The King of the Cats Usyk has earned the moniker of ‘The Cat’ because of his swiftness, agility, and slickness inside the ring. When he won the WBSS final in 2018 it was at the huge 1980 Summer Olympics sports complex, the Olimpiyskiy in Moscow. An abandoned part of the building is actually a popular hangout for many of the city’s stray cats. ‘The Cat’ not only shone in front of a WBSS record crowd of 24,000, but he also did it among a large number of his ‘fellow species’. 5. Born to Greatness Who other than Usyk became the first ever to raise to Muhammad Ali Trophy on July 21st, 2018. Destiny? Oh yes! Muhammad Ali and Aleksandr Usyk are both born on January 17. And growing up in Simferopol, Crimea, Usyk looked up to the ‘The Greatest’ (he also attended classes of folk dancing, football, and judo). Ali’s widow, Lonnie Ali, presented the trophy to Usyk after the final in Moscow. “It is no secret that Muhammad Ali is my biggest idol so this is a great honour,” said Usyk after receiving the Muhammad Ali Trophy. Usyk is paying tribute to Ali in both subtle and very clear ways. For example: * Usyk wears the number 17 on his shorts. A reference to January 17, and to the greatness of that particular date. * Usyk has a sticker on his car saying: “Float like a butterfly sting like a bee.” * Usyk aptly did Ali’s shuffle in the final seconds of the final against Gassiev.  |
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