{"id":436266,"date":"2026-02-20T14:46:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T14:46:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/436266\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T14:46:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T14:46:06","slug":"oleksandr-usyk-addresses-retirement-plans-older-men-cant-compete-with-younger-ones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/436266\/","title":{"rendered":"Oleksandr Usyk addresses retirement plans: &#8220;Older men can&#8217;t compete with younger ones\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Unified heavyweight world champion<a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnewsonline.net\/boxer\/oleksandr-usyk\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> Oleksandr Usyk<\/a> has opened up on his retirement plans, revealing that he has a \u2018clear date\u2019 in his mind for when he will hang up the gloves and hand over the baton as the best heavyweight on the planet.<\/p>\n<p>Usyk is one of three fighters to have claimed the undisputed title in multiple weight divisions during the four-belt era and just the second fighter in the entirety of boxing history to have held the undisputed title at cruiserweight and heavyweight, after Evander Holyfield.<\/p>\n<p>However, despite being cemented as one of the greatest heavyweights of the modern era, 39-year-old Usyk continues to fight on, expected to next face either Deontay Wilder or Rico Verhoeven, <a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnewsonline.net\/news\/oleksandr-usyk-wbc-order\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">before he is mandated to take on Germany\u2019s Agit Kabayel<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Although, speaking with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/usyk17.promotions\/reel\/DU8nGRfiC2c\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Usyk 17 Promotions<\/a>, the Ukrainian superstar revealed that he already has a date in his mind for when he will retire.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is a clear date when I will tell people, \u2018thank you, an older fighter can\u2019t compete with a younger one, not physically, not in speed\u2019. You have to understand, you\u2019ve walked your path and now it\u2019s the era of the younger guys.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhoever among them proves to be the strongest \u2013 in discipline, in the work that they put in, in patience, with the guts, that is the one [who will succeed me], that we will see with their hand raised and we will help them achieve this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.co.uk\/boxing\/story\/_\/id\/46625796\/oleksandr-usyk-rules-moses-itauma-fight-plans-retire-aged-41\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Usyk has previously stated that he will retire at the age of 41 years old<\/a>, meaning that the undefeated technician likely has two or three fights left before he walks away for good.<\/p>\n<p>                                            <script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unified heavyweight world champion Oleksandr Usyk has opened up on his retirement plans, revealing that he has a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":436267,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-436266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/436267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}