Usyk Avenges the British Under Wladimir Klitschko

On the evening of May 19 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Ukrainian super heavyweight Oleksandr Usyk triumphed over Britain's Tyson Fury, securing the title of undisputed world heavyweight champion.

For Ukraine, Usyk's victory is not just historically significant; it's a matter of principle, much like his previous encounter with Joshua. The backdrop here is that both British fighters had effectively ended the career of another legendary Ukrainian, super featherweight Wladimir Klitschko. In defeating them, Usyk delivers a form of payback, though he has never labeled it as revenge against Wladimir. Nonetheless, it certainly appears that way.

Klitschko's Most Heartbreaking Defeats: Failures Against Fury and Joshua

Throughout his extensive professional career, Wladimir Klitschko has faced defeat only five times, each loss being uniquely disheartening. However, his final two losses stand out as particularly distressing.

Defeat to Tyson Fury

This loss ended Wladimir's nearly decade-long reign over the heavyweight division. Klitschko acknowledged that he had underestimated Fury, allowing the Brit to dominate and embarrass him in the ring. Indeed, Fury continued this mockery even after defeating the Ukrainian.

Wladimir Klitschko wanted a rematch with Tyson Fury more than he had ever wanted one before. However, the rematch was delayed twice.

It became apparent that Fury didn't want to fight Klitschko again. After his major upsets in 2015, Fury lost all the titles he had taken from Wladimir due to mental health issues and eventually announced he was retiring from boxing.

As a result, Klitschko was left without a rematch or the titles, and he held a strong grudge against Fury, which was evident in his later interviews.

Different Relationship with Anthony Joshua

With Anthony Joshua, the relationship was different; there was mutual respect before and after their fight.

Many consider the fight with Joshua to be the best performance of Wladimir's career, even though he lost. But losing to the younger British boxer was still very painful. In this fight, Klitschko showed why he is considered a legendary boxer. His record and titles became secondary; the boxing community saw his character, his will to win, and his desire at age 41 to prove that he could still compete at the highest level.

Unfortunately, Joshua's youth was more than Klitschko's experience could overcome.

Wladimir could have had a rematch with Joshua, which would have been easy to arrange, unlike with Fury. But Klitschko decided to retire three months later, choosing to end his career.

Usyk Wins Without Seeking Revenge

Oleksandr Usyk wasn't looking to avenge Klitschko, but he ended up beating both Joshua and Fury. When one of the Klitschko brothers lost in the past, the other would seek revenge. This happened in Vitali's fights with Ross Puritty, Corrie Sanders and Wladimir's fight with Chris Byrd. Now that both brothers have retired, Usyk avenged Wladimir's last two major defeats.

Usyk's Triumph Over Anthony Joshua

Back in April 2017, when Anthony Joshua defeated Wladimir Klitschko, the idea of Oleksandr Usyk moving up to heavyweight seemed far-fetched. Usyk had only claimed the WBO cruiserweight title in September 2016 and had defended it twice by then. 

However, even at that early stage, Usyk foresaw a future clash with Joshua in the heavyweight division. In 2017, while in a studio for the "Big Boxing" show on Inter TV, analyzing the Klitschko-Joshua fight, Usyk made a statement that turned out to be quite prophetic: 

"I'm not out to take revenge for anyone, but in three years, I'll be fighting Joshua in London. First, I need to unify all the belts at cruiserweight."

Oleksandr did precisely as he promised, but he was only off by a year, a delay possibly affected by the pandemic. He unified all the cruiserweight titles, won the first season of the World Boxing Super Series, moved up to heavyweight, and faced Joshua within just two fights.

Usyk's initial fight with Joshua occurred in September 2021 in London. He won by unanimous decision and became the unified world heavyweight champion.

In this victory, Oleksandr claimed all the major belts that Wladimir Klitschko once held. In 2022, after a rematch with Joshua, he also secured the vacant belt from The Ring magazine, another title previously held by Wladimir.

Usyk's Victory Over Tyson Fury

Interestingly, the WBC belt—the only title missing for Usyk to achieve absolute status—was held by another of Wladimir Klitschko's former opponents, the British fighter Tyson Fury.

Despite Fury and Usyk's evolving rivalry over the last two years, the narrative that this episode also serves as vengeance for Wladimir Klitschko's defeat hasn't faded. Klitschko's loss to Tyson Fury was a profound disappointment, and even more so because Wladimir never had the chance to score even with the Brit in a rematch that never materialized.

While avenging Klitschko might not have been Usyk's primary motivation against Fury—perhaps it wasn't even a consideration—there's no denying that Oleksandr had been gearing up for this fight for a long time. Usyk acknowledged his long-term preparation: "I've been preparing for him for many years—since he defeated Wladimir Klitschko. He didn't know about me because I wasn't a big name in boxing then. And I've been preparing for both Anthony Joshua and him since I started in professional boxing."

On the night of May 19, things could not have gone better for Ukrainian boxing. Usyk not only became a two-time absolute champion but also defeated Fury nearly a decade after Fury's win over Klitschko.

Wladimir Klitschko was present to witness this landmark event. It was paramount for him to be there to see his fellow countryman fight. Although Usyk never framed his matches with Joshua and Fury as retribution for Klitschko, the unfolding events still crafted a compelling story.

Author: Mykyta Cherkashin

Photo Credits: Sky Sports, Daily Mail, DAZN