Oleksandr Usyk has never lost a fight in the paid ranks, but he suffered his fair share of setbacks during his vested days.
The Ukrainian slickster is one of only four fighters (alongside Terence Crawford, Claressa Shields and Naoya Inoue) to have achieved undisputed supremacy in two separate weight classes in the four-belt era.
He unified all the titles at cruiserweight by beating heavy-handed Russian Murat Gassiev over the distance in July 2018 and then did the same at heavyweight just under six years later when he edged Tyson Fury in a tight inaugural encounter.
These incredible feats have earned him the No.1 spot on the Ring Magazine pound-for-pound list while his achievements thus far almost certainly merit a first-ballot Hall of Fame induction when he becomes eligible.
As of yet, no man has been able to crack his code in the pros.
Fury and Mairis Briedis pushed him all the way, but in the end, Usyk’s genius shone through.
He is now 23-0 and may retire undefeated providing the 38-year-old doesn’t overstay his welcome in the sport.
Prior to turning over, Usyk enjoyed an equally fruitful amateur career.
He won gold at the 2012 Olympic Games, 2011 World Championships and 2008 European Championships.
However, he was unable to maintain an unblemished record.
During a seasoned 351-bout stretch, Usyk won 335 fights and lost 16.
Most of his defeats aren’t accompanied by video footage but by piecing together various partial records on the internet talkSPORT.com has compiled all of his losses in one place.
Oleksandr Usyk’s 16 amateur losses
Lost his debut versus an unknown opponent sometime in 2002
Lost to Sergey Sklyarov in the 2005 European Junior Championships preliminaries
Lost on points to Lukasz Wawrzyczek at the 2005 Poland v Ukraine International
Lost on points to Omer Aydogan in the 2006 Bocskai Memorial final
Lost on points to Mohamed Hikal in the 2006 Ahmet Comert Tournament final
Lost via RSCO to Matvey Korobov in the 2006 European Championships semi-final
Lost on points to Mohamed Hikal at the 2006 World Cup (Ukraine v Africa)
Lost via walkover to Matvey Korobov at the 2006 World Cup (Russia v Ukraine)
Lost on points to Shawn Porter at the 2006 USA vs Ukraine Dual
Lost on points to Babacar Kamara in the 2007 Ahmet Comert Tournament preliminaries
Lost on points to Artur Beterbiev at the 2007 Amber Gloves (Russia v Ukraine)
Lost via walkover to Viktar Zuyeu in the 2008 European Olympic qualifier final
Lost on points to Xiaoping Zhang in the 2008 Ahmet Comert Tournament final
Lost on points to Clemente Russo in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games Quarter-Final
Lost via walkover Osmay Acosta at the 2008 World Cup final
Lost on points to Egor Mekhontsev in the 2009 AIBA World Championships semi-final
Most sites list him at 335-15 although Usyk recently revealed that he lost his amateur debut in 2002, which isn’t accounted for on any of the databases.
“I lost my first fight. [It felt] bad,” Usyk told the Ring Podcast. “I thought ‘Wow, I am not a good boxer’.
“My coach said, ‘Hey don’t worry, next time you will win’. I said, ‘Maybe not, maybe I will stop’ because I lost.
“I get home, I tell my father, ‘Hey, I lost’. [He says] ‘Okay, no problem, try again.’
“‘You know Evander Holyfield?’ Then my father told me a story about Evander Holyfield (losing his first two amateur fights).
“And I said ‘Yeah, I’ll try again’. And two months later I won.
“It wasn’t a big competition, it was a local competition in Crimea but when I won, oh my God.”
Usyk wouldn’t lose again until 2005 when Sergey Sklyarov dumped the Ukrainian out in the preliminary round of his first major tournament, the European Junior Championships.
This was followed by another defeat to Lukasz Wawrzyczek in a Poland vs Ukraine international later that year before Omer Aydogan, Mohamed Hikal, and Matvey Korobov handed him a trio of setbacks in 2006.
At the back end of the year, Usyk met future welterweight world champion Shawn Porter in a USA vs Ukraine international.
It seems inconceivable that both men boxed each other given the size disparity between the pair but back then Usyk was competing at middleweight.
Porter went on to win the contest on points via a tight 23-20 margin and claims he rocked Usyk in the final round.
“I don’t remember who was winning each round but I do remember this: going into the last round, my dad was coaching me, and we had this other guy Dan Campbell, he was the 2008 Olympic coach, he’s down on the floor putting the stool in, putting the bucket in, putting the water in,” he said on his podcast, Porters Way.
“[He was] not saying too much but going into that fourth round before I walked out and the bell rang, he said ‘Hey, Shawn, if you line him up, he’s there for the right hand – if you throw a straight right, you’ll land it and get him’.
“And that’s exactly what happened in the fourth round. We were moving around, we were doing our thing and I landed a right hand on Usyk and he stumbled back.
“And [being] Shawn Porter, you already know I jumped on him and ended up winning 23-20.”
Usyk’s next defeat came at the hands of Babcar Kamara in the 2007 Ahmet Comert Tournament preliminaries before current undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev defeated him on points at the Amber Gloves (Russia vs Ukraine) tournament later that year.
Beterbiev and Usyk would go on to box each other three times as amateurs.
The Russian puncher didn’t win either of their last two meetings but he did drop Usyk with a body shot during their rematch in the quarter-finals of the 2011 World Championship.
Between their first and second fights, Usyk was beaten by Viktar Zuyeu, Xiaoping Zhang, Clemente Russo, Osmay Acosta, and Egor Mekhontsev from 2008 to 2009
His loss to Mekhontsev in the 2009 World Championship semi-final would be his final defeat inside a boxing ring – and the rest, as they say, is history.
