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Just before midnight on Saturday, in the depths of Wembley Stadium, Oleksandr Usyk stroked his moustache as he listened to another question which followed his magisterial destruction of Daniel Dubois. The 38-year-old Ukrainian had once again become the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world after a performance filled with light, panache and a kind of battering precision that had normally sober ringside observers reaching for words such as “genius” and “magician”.
After such savage alchemy, someone asked Usyk another question which made his face light up again. After all he had done, and with almost desperate speculation as to who might be able to challenge him now, how did Usyk find the motivation to keep fighting? “Oh, listen, bro,” he said, as he made a distinction crucial to any clear understanding of his extraordinary achievements in and out of the ring, “I don’t have motivation. I have discipline. Motivation? It’s temporary. Today, for example, you have motivation. But tomorrow you wake up early and you don’t have motivation.”
He flashed his familiar gap-toothed grin. “When I wake up early for training I never have motivation. I have only discipline. Motivation is needed only for amateur sportsmen – not for professional boxers. Amateur boxers might only work three times in a week. They say: ‘Oh, but today I don’t have motivation for training.’ Uh-uh. No, bro. Motivation is good but discipline is better.”
Those seven little words reveal the essence of Usyk. His brilliance is rooted in iron discipline. In a similar way he is not always motivated to speak about death and grief in Ukraine as the bombs fall and the body-count rises. Usyk once told me that he wished I had interviewed him long before the war with Russia. “I’m a really funny guy,” he said. “I love to laugh and to dance. But it’s not possible when we need to talk about what Russia is trying to do to Ukraine. We need to be focused and disciplined in telling the world the truth.”
Usyk did not really want to come out and talk after the intensity of his display against Dubois. His manager, Egis Klimas, urged us to keep the post-fight conversation short and to avoid repetitive questions. Usyk wanted to be with his wife after being separated from her and their four children for 14 long weeks.
But the champion, as always, brought discipline and decency to his press conference. He listened closely, kept saying “good question” and, even in his halting English, produced a depth of thought that does not always illuminate such anodyne encounters. “Boxers only have three punches. It’s the jab, the hook and the uppercut,” he said as he demonstrated each one to us. “But combinations take a long time [to master].”
He explained how the shimmering combination that dropped Dubois in round five meant his stricken rival was open for the final shuddering overhand left that ended the fight. It came from the lessons they had learned during his previous victory over Dubois in August 2023: “We learn from the first fight and we had a long time – two years. We prepare combinations.”
Usyk imitated the last clubbing blow that had left Dubois sprawled across the canvas. “It’s a punch we named Ivan. The left hook is like this …” He offered up a textbook punch before reverting to the roundhouse smash which closed the show. “That is Ivan!” he exclaimed. “It’s a Ukrainian name. Ivan is like a big guy who lives in the village and works on a farm. A really big guy!” Usyk puffed himself up to look like a hulking Ukrainian farmer. “What is your name?” he asked himself. Using a low growl, Usyk replied in the voice of the imagined farmer: “My name is Ivan.” The boxer grinned helplessly. “Yeah, it’s a hard, hard punch.”
Usyk was pressed on who he may fight next. “Now I want to rest. I cannot say who my next opponent will be. I prepare for three and a half months. I don’t see my family, my wife. Every day I live with my team, with 14 guys, in one house [he laughed again in mock despair]. Every day only the same faces. Now I want to go back home.”
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Who next for Usyk?
ShowJoseph Parker: This is the most logical next bout for Usyk as Parker, apart from being the WBO’s mandatory challenger, is in a rich vein of form. He deserves another world title shot and, while he would be a heavy underdog, his brilliant trainer Andy Lee is the one man in boxing who might just have the intelligence to ask a few fresh questions of Usyk.
Derek Chisora: It is a curious anomaly that a relatively crude brawler like Chisora, who should have retired years ago, has been the only heavyweight to make Usyk look uncomfortable. When they met in 2020 it was only Usky’s second fight as a heavyweight and he found Chisora’s maundering pressure initially hard to handle. Two of the three judges had Usyk winning by an extremely tight 115-113 margin. But we should shudder to think what Usyk might do to the battered veteran in a rematch.
Tyson Fury: There is little doubt that Fury is the most skilful and toughest opponent Usyk has faced. Their first fight, in May 2024, was a classic and the rematch seven months later was another gruelling battle. Usyk won both and Fury, claiming to have been robbed, retreated into retirement. But, inevitably, The Gypsy King is already talking of a comeback and, on Saturday, he said: “Oleksandr Usyk knows there is only one man who can beat him. I did it twice before. I am the man and, no matter what anyone wants to say, I won those fights.”
Jake Paul, the former YouTuber, had climbed into the ring an hour earlier and come face-to-face with Usyk. The master cackled again at the surreal certainty that he would pick apart a boxing novice as easily as a small boy might separate a butterfly from its wings. “I’m ready for Jake Paul,” he joked, “but I need to rest.”
Usyk discussed his faith and the transient nature of life, then paid tribute to Britain, which he described as his “second home” as he has won so many of his greatest fights in this country – from Olympic gold to becoming the undisputed world heavyweight champion for a second time at Wembley. “I’m very grateful for this country,” Usyk said, with characteristic charm. “Thank you so much.”
Discipline shone out of Usyk as he raised his arms and then lowered his head in a respectful bow before, as if in a puff of magic, he disappeared into the dark and rainy night.
