{"id":403396,"date":"2026-01-11T22:17:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T22:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/403396\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T22:17:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T22:17:10","slug":"oleksandr-usyk-says-one-man-stands-alone-as-the-greatest-heavyweight-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/403396\/","title":{"rendered":"Oleksandr Usyk says one man stands alone as the greatest heavyweight ever"},"content":{"rendered":"

Heavyweight boxing\u2019s return to the top of the sport has reignited debate over where the division\u2019s modern champions belong among the giants of the past, and now Oleksandr Usyk<\/a> himself has offered his view.<\/p>\n

Usyk, Tyson Fury<\/a>, Anthony Joshua<\/a> and Deontay Wilder<\/a> have defined the era between them, with Usyk emerging as the clear standard-bearer as boxing enters 2026.<\/p>\n

How history ultimately judges them will only become clear with time, but by Usyk\u2019s own assessment, neither he nor his contemporaries belong anywhere near heavyweight boxing\u2019s greatest-of-all-time conversation.<\/p>\n

Mail Sport Boxing<\/a> recently put the Ukrainian to the test, asking him to categorise a selection of heavyweight greats \u2014 past and present \u2014 into four tiers: GOAT, God, Great and Good.<\/p>\n

Despite his remarkable achievements at both cruiserweight and heavyweight, Usyk placed himself in the Good category, alongside Joshua and Wilder. One tier above, in Great, he selected 1980s phenomenon Mike Tyson, Britain\u2019s last undisputed champion Lennox Lewis, the history-making George Foreman, and Tyson Fury \u2014 the man Usyk defeated twice in 2024.<\/p>\n

The God category was left vacant. At the very top, however, there was no hesitation.<\/p>\n

\u201cGOAT.\u201d<\/p>\n

That honour went to Muhammad Ali<\/a>.<\/p>\n

More than six decades on from his first world title triumph, \u201cThe Greatest\u201d remains the hardest act to follow and the toughest standard to meet \u2014 not just at heavyweight, but across the entire sport. Ali\u2019s personality, charisma, humour, God-given talent and historic accomplishments continue to stand alone, unmatched and, for now, untouchable.<\/p>\n

Yet Usyk (24-0, 15 KOs) is more than merely \u201cgood\u201d. His victories over Fury<\/a>, Joshua and Daniel Dubois have showcased a heavyweight of rare sophistication \u2014 one who, like Ali, can box, set traps and move at a speed normally reserved for smaller men.<\/p>\n

That he shares Ali\u2019s birthday \u2014 January 17 \u2014 only adds a poetic footnote to a career that, while humble in self-assessment, is already etched deep into heavyweight history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Heavyweight boxing\u2019s return to the top of the sport has reignited debate over where the division\u2019s modern champions…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403397,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-403396","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}