Oleksandr Usyk has already made his mark on the heavyweight division with wins over Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua, and Daniel Dubois, but his entry into the division was derailed six years ago.
Oleksandr Usyk moved to the glamour division of boxing after cleaning out the cruiserweight division with wins over Tony Bellew, who was saved by the ref in their fight, Mairis Briedis, who called out Jake Paul with a tattoo, and Michael Hunter, who KO’d Martin Bakole.
Usyk retired Chazz Witherspoon, cousin of Tim Witherspoon, in his heavyweight debut, but Witherspoon was not his original opponent.
Oleksandr Usyk’s original KO machine opponent was flattened in martial arts bout
Usyk was originally meant to fight Tyrone Spong, a 14-0 fighter with 13 knockout victories. The fight was cancelled, though, when Spong failed a drug test, and Witherspoon was brought in as a replacement.
Despite his impressive record, the truth of the matter was that Spong was not really a boxer, and his boxing career lasted just over three years between 2015 and 2018, with one comeback bout in 2019 after 8 months out.
Spong was actually a talented kickboxer, and has spent most of his career in kickboxing and martial arts.
In his latest fight, Spong faced former UFC fighter Sam Alvey in Karate Combat, where Alvey was the heavyweight champion.
Spong was brutally knocked out in the second round by a big shot from Alvey.
Canelo’s former foe and a British boxing champ have both turned to MMA
Canelo‘s former foe, Austin Trout, is perhaps the biggest success story in terms of boxers transitioning to adjacent combat sports, as he is now the world champion in BKFC, having competed as a bareknuckle boxer since 2023.
Trout may be a BKFC champion, but he isn’t the only boxer to have joined the promotion, with former British super-middleweight champion Jack Cullen debuting in BKFC at the end of March this year, winning by round one TKO.
Former Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois opponent Dorian Darch is also a bare-knuckle fighter, and scored a brutal KO recently.