Oleksandr Usyk’s amateur days are well and truly behind him as he gears up for the biggest fight of his career against Daniel Dubois.
Oleksandr Usyk hopes to become an undisputed champion for the third time with a second win over Daniel Dubois.
He became undisputed at heavyweight after defeating Tyson Fury, before vacating the IBF after failing to face his mandatory, Filip Hrgovic.
Before that, Usyk was undisputed as a cruiserweight after his win over Murat Gassiev to reign supreme in the World Boxing Super Series tournament.
But before that, even before turning pro, Usyk was an extremely capable amateur, and went toe-to-toe with the brother of an impressive heavyweight not once, but three times.
Oleksandr Usyk defeated Kubrat Pulev’s brother three times in little-known trilogy
In 2010, in the finals of the European Cup heavyweight division, Usyk, who Tony Bellew says must fight Joseph Parker, came face-to-face with Tervel Pulev.
It’s unclear how the bout went, but it seems like the Ukrainian may have been too much for Pulev, as the Bulgarian was withdrawn from the fight in the third round.
In 2011, at the preliminaries for the AIBA World Championships, history repeated itself as once again Usyk faced Pulev, and once again Pulev was withdrawn from the contest.
Their third encounter held the highest stakes of them all, as Usyk and Pulev met in the semi-finals of the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Pulev was in better form this time, at least enough that he was not withdrawn by his team during the fight. After three rounds, though, Usyk picked up another victory, which put him one step closer to winning Olympic Gold.
Pulev turned pro with an amateur record of 42-15. As a professional he has had multiple years with just one fight, and has faced no real notable opponents aside from Sergey Kovalev, who beat him by unanimous decision.
Tervel’s brother, though, Kubrat Pulev, is a well-known 32-3 heavyweight, who has only lost to Anthony Joshua, Wladimir Klitschko, and Derek Chisora, whom he has also beaten.
Pulev won the WBA Regular title in his last fight with a win over Mahmoud Charr.
Oleksandr Usyk faced some other notable names as an amateur
During his decorated days as an amateur, Usyk faced a wide variety of fighters, a few of which many fans will know now from their times as a pro.
In 2013, Usyk faced and defeated Joe Joyce, who, interestingly, is the only other man to defeat Dubois aside from Usyk. Usyk won every round of their World Series of Boxing encounter.
Earlier that same year, Usyk defeated Joseph Parker‘s former foe, Junior Fa, who is now a pacifist.
Usyk also faced light-heavyweight legend, Artur Beterbiev, three times, winning the last two, but losing the first in 2007.
The Ukrainian has also beaten highly ranked cruiserweight Arsen Goulamirian and Cuban amateur Lenier Pero.
Usyk and Dubois face off on July 19th, and George Groves believes Dubois can win.