Oleksandr Uysk, boxing’s Brit slayer, has already eclipsed legendary Klitschko brothers

No other fighter in recent history has been so problematic for the hopes of British heavyweight boxing than Oleksandr Usyk.

Since leaving the cruiserweight division undisputed and undefeated in 2019, the Ukrainian has laid to waste every challenger he has faced from these shores – an extraordinary list of fighters who have tried and failed to solve the puzzle that is Usyk.

Derek Chisora was first up in what was the former Olympian’s second fight in boxing’s blue-riband division. Anthony Joshua, then WBO, WBA and IBF champion, welcomed him as a mandatory challenger in 2021 and was outclassed from the opening bell as Usyk was crowned a two-weight world champion.

A year later, after Joshua promised to ‘take Usyk’s soul’ in their rematch, he was left broken and scrambling back to square one after another defeat. A desperate in-ring meltdown after the final bell illustrated the depths of the disorientation and despair Usyk had drowned him in.

Daniel Dubois had his chance, flooring Usyk with the body shot that was deemed an illegal low blow in the summer of 2023 in Poland. It wasn’t taken, with the champion suffocating the Londoner with crisp, incisive shots that eventually put him down.

Tyson Fury was convinced he would change things. But against the man he belittled as a ‘middleweight’, he was rocked from pillar to post, left staggering in a beaten daze in a breathtaking ninth round in Saudi last May. Beaten for the first time in his career, ‘The Gypsy King’ watched on as Usyk was crowned the division’s first undisputed heavyweight champion in 25 years.

That collection of scalps doesn’t even mention the knockout of Tony Bellew, his final fight at cruiserweight that retired the Liverpudlian. ‘I was spent, I was absolutely exhausted. I didn’t remember anything of round eight,’ Bellew later recalled.

A run of six successful fights against UK fighters has only endeared Usyk further to the boxing public in this part of the world with so many British fight fans celebrating his achievements as if he was one of their own.Effortlessly likeable, confident and calculating in equal measure with the sublime skill to back it all up, embracing Usyk has been a privilege.

As he prepares for another chapter against Fury, Wladimir Klitschko, one of the men Usyk admired so much alongside his brother Vitali, is considering a return to the sport.

Turki Alalshikh, the man responsible for heavyweight boxing’s wild ride in Saudi Arabia over the last two years, is eager for the longest reigning heavyweight champion in history to come out of retirement seven years after hanging up his gloves.

While dominating heavyweight boxing side-by-side, Wladimir and Vitali refused to fight each other and the case would perhaps be the same with Usyk, another icon of Ukraine who emerged as a symbol of hope amid a backdrop of war back home.

A rematch for Klitschko against Fury, nine years on from his defeat to ‘The Gypsy King’ is the dream for boxing’s new power broker. Were Wladimir to return to the sport in search of becoming the oldest heavyweight champion in history, it raises the question; has Usyk, despite spending just five years operating in the heavyweight division, already eclipsed the accomplishments of his countrymen?

‘Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko were fantastic heavyweights. But in terms of legacy, popularity and the influence they’ve had on the rest of the world, I think Usyk is bigger and better in that respect,’ argues Frazer Clarke, the heavyweight contender and a true purist of the sport.

‘Usyk has the character, he has all the credentials.

‘The Klitschkos were very regimented, they said the right things and did the right things. Usyk has a bit more about him, the haircuts, the dancing, the Agent 47 suit at the press conference last month, he says crazy things but he always does it very respectfully.

‘He has brought so much to this division and has been in massive fights and has beaten the best. He is one of the best heavyweight of all time. They are all amazing fighters but I would say Usyk is top of the Ukrainian tree.’

Regardless of what transpires on Saturday in Riyadh, Usyk’s legacy as one of Ukraine’s finest ever sportsmen and one of the greatest fighters of his generation is already secure.

Even what could be considered the UK’s best ever generation of heavyweight fighters have been unable to knock him of course.

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This weekend’s heavyweight world title fight between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury is available to purchase on DAZN