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On this day: Usyk overcomes Chisora to announce himself to the heavyweight division
Oleksandr Usyk has cemented himself as the best heavyweight of this era after becoming a two-time undisputed champion by knocking out Daniel Dubois for the second time in July.
His run at heavyweight has been an unprecedented clear-out, beating two of the best of this era, Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury, twice.
But before this, Usyk also dominated the cruiserweight division, becoming the undisputed champion after winning the World Boxing Super Series in 2018.
With greatness only achieved by Evander Holyfield and David Haye before him, Usyk set about becoming a cruiserweight and heavyweight world champion.
But he first had to prove his mettle in the blue-riband division, which led him to the heavyweight stalwart and cult hero, Derek Chisora.
Today marks five years since the pair shared the ring, so here is a look back at when Usyk announced himself to the world heavyweight scene.
Where were Usyk and Chisora before their clash?
After becoming the undisputed cruiserweight champion, Usyk defended his title once against British fan favourite and former champion Tony Bellew.
The Liverpudlian put up an admirable performance, even taking rounds from the Ukrainian, until he ran out of steam and ideas, falling to the relentless and calculated pressure of the Ukrainian, as he was knocked out in the eighth round.
With nothing left to achieve at 200lbs, Usyk announced his move to heavyweight and went away to put on the necessary size to compete in the land of the giants.
His first fight came against the little-known yet experienced heavyweight, Chazz Witherspoon.
Usyk looked sharp and fast, but questions over his power and ability to absorb punishment still lingered despite overwhelming Witherspoon, forcing him to retire in the seventh round.
Chisora was on an impressive run, rebuilding from his second loss to Dillian Whyte in 2018 and had put together three consecutive victories.
‘Del Boy’ claimed a unanimous decision against Senad Gashi, knocked out Artur Szpilka inside two rounds, and defeated former world title hopeful David Price in the fourth round.
Acting as more of a gatekeeper at this point, Chisora was lined up as the perfect litmus test for Usyk - a no-nonsense, rough and ready heavyweight who would push the Ukrainian.
Richard Heathcote/Getty Images
The build-up
In March 2020, it was announced that Usyk and Chisora would fight on May 23 at the O2 Arena, a familiar playground for the Brit – but due to Covid-19 restrictions being put in place, the fight was forced to be delayed until October 31.
This gave Usyk more time to solidify his weight and post taunting videos calling out Chisora.
“Derek, I’m coming for you, Derek," Usyk said in a social media post.
“Derek, how are you? Derek,” he continued persistently.
To which Chisora hilariously responded. “’Derek, how are you?’. I’m fine, I’m fine, man, I’m fine. Leave me alone.”
The fight
On fight night, Usyk came in at an undersized 217lbs compared to Chisora, who weighed 255lbs – a 38lbs weight advantage for the Brit.
Chisora immediately tried to capitalise on this advantage by walking the much more mobile Usyk down, throwing wild and looping hooks to the head and body.
He knew he had to make it count every time he got close to the master technician, and in the early rounds, he did, pushing Usyk back to the ropes with clubbing blows that would knock the Ukrainian off balance.
But Chisora began to feel the pace he was setting, and Usyk started to understand Chisora’s bobbing and weaving style – putting his championship-level accuracy and fitness on display to take over through the middle rounds
Usyk had not had to deal with the rough-house style of boxing that Chisora was making use of, trying to hold on to Usyk and throw on the inside – which made him look uncomfortable at times.
But the former undisputed cruiserweight champion answered every question that was asked of him and simply outworked Chisora, and the skill gap became more and more obvious even as Chisora found his second wind down the stretch.
Usyk walked away as the unanimous decision winner, but two of the scorecards only had the pair separated by two rounds.
The Ukrainian hadn’t made the desired statement to the incumbent champions, Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, who were both ringside, but he showed an incredible ability to adapt to any style in the middle of a fight, and that he could go toe-to-toe with a pure-bred heavyweight.
(Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing)
The aftermath
By claiming a hard-earned victory over Chisora, Usyk had lined himself up as next in line for a shot at Anthony Joshua, who held three of the four major belts after winning them back from Andy Ruiz Jr the year before.
Usyk would go into both of those fights at a much more established 221lbs and outbox Joshua both times to claim and hold onto the unified heavyweight titles.
The Usyk defeat began a downturn for Chisora, who had a brace of fights with the former champion Joseph Parker – losing both on points, which many thought was the beginning of the end for the ageing heavyweight.
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