Fighter of the Year 2024: Oleksandr Usyk

By: Sean Crose

While it’s often good advice not to follow the crowd, sometimes the crowd is on to something. That’s certainly the case this year, as heavyweight kingpin Oleksandr Usyk is almost universally trumpeted as the leading professional boxer of 2024. There used to be a saying in Hollywood that script readers primarily look for reasons to reject a script rather than to transmit it. on the upper floors. The same could frankly be said of boxing fans and journalists, many if not most of whom see the figurative glass as half empty by default. Usyk, however, has gotten to the point where a fighter can have a perfect year.

The truth is, no one out there has accomplished what Usyk has accomplished these past twelve months. After all, that man became the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, a feat that hadn’t been accomplished in decades, let alone years. Furthermore, Usyk won his crown by defeating Tyson Fury, the man who could rightly be argued to be the second best heavyweight in the world. Usyk then beat Fury a second time just before Christmas. Make no mistake, Usyk is Boxing Insider’s 2024 Fighter of the Year for good reason.

Most honest people would probably admit that they never saw Usyk emerge as the king of the post-Klitschko super-sized heavyweight era. It was supposed to be a three-way contest between Fury, fellow Englishman Anthony Joshua and American Deontay Wilder. Yet, as often happens in boxing, the unexpected happened. Usyk beat Joshua twice, then won his two bouts with Fury for good measure. With Wilder weakened and essentially out of the race, it was Ukrainian Usyk who emerged on top. Perhaps it is his unexpected rise to heavyweight that makes the story of former undisputed lightweight champion Usyk stand out.

Or maybe he’s just that good. He’s relentless, Usyk, with excellent timing and some of the best footwork in the game. It can also hit harder than you might think. Fury can attest to that. The most impressive thing about Usyk, though, is his focus. He almost never lets his mind wander from the task at hand – a gift few fighters possess. There’s a reason no one has been able to beat him. The excellence of an opponent is a very difficult thing to overcome. Ask all the men Usyk has defeated.