Oleksandr Usyk is now done with boxing as the undisputed heavyweight and cruiserweight world champion.
The great Ukrainian boxer defeated most of the best boxers of that time in both weight categories and unified all four championship belts twice.
In the race for the cruiserweight division, Usyk defeated Krzysztof Glowacki in Poland to win his first world title in 2016.
He then unified two of the four belts by eliminating Mairis Briedis in Latvia.
Usyk became the undisputed champion with an emphatic victory over Murat Gassiev in Russia in 2018.
And then he ended his cruiserweight campaign by knocking out Tony Bellew in England.
In the heavyweight division, Usyk started slowly with a victory over Chazz Witherspoon in the US in 2019.
He upped the ante by beating Derek Chisora on points in 2020 before joining Anthony Joshua.
Usyk defeated AJ twice in 2021 and 2022 when he won three of the four heavyweight championship belts.
And most recently, he had a decisive victory over Tyson Fury to become the undisputed king of the tournament.
After completing his cruiserweight bout, Usyk participated in a Twitter Q&A in which he was asked to name the toughest opponent of his career to date.
He simply replied: “Bellew.”
The British made it difficult for the Ukrainians from the very beginning of the match.
In the second round, Bellew began to surprise viewers by landing several right hands in a row and even taunting his very intimidating opponent.
Scouser made it clear that he had no fear of his opponent and even switched to a left-handed stance midway through the fight, before continuing to dominate in the third round.
However, things began to turn around from the fourth round onwards, when the champion staggered the home team with a huge left hook – a prophetic punch that would come back to haunt him later.
The fifth season saw more consistency from Usyk as he seemed to have solved the puzzle that Bellew presented early on.
Usyk maintained his dominance throughout the sixth and seventh rounds as the challenger began to slow down, receiving an increasing number of hooks in the process.
In the eighth inning, everything fell apart for Bellew.
A powerful left hook knocked him to the floor and left referee Terry O’Connor with no choice but to end the fight and Bellew’s amazing career.
However, his performance still deserves praise because few people could challenge Usyk before that moment.
Speaking more recently after defeating Fury and Joshua, Usyk was asked the same question again.
This time, he admitted his answer had changed and said Fury was now the toughest fight of his career so far.
On December 21, he will face Gypsy King again.