Personal vendettas rarely get in the way of sportsmanship and respect when Oleksandr Usyk steps through the ropes.
Usyk became the undisputed cruiserweight world champion with three victories on away soil, winning in Poland to get his hands on the WBO belt, before unifications in Latvia and Russia in the semi-final and final of the World Boxing Super Series.
After defending the undisputed throne against Tony Bellew, the Ukrainian then moved up to heavyweight and replicated the feat to become the first undisputed heavyweight champion of the four-belt era – trumping the likes of Anthony Joshua, Daniel Dubois and Tyson Fury.
Since overcoming ‘AJ’ to become a household name, Usyk has continued to stick to his values and show complete respect to opponents – that includes Fury, who did his best to drag the Ukrainian southpaw into a war of words.
However, when speaking to DAZN Boxing, Usyk explained why the only dance partner of his career that he did not ‘love’ was Germany’s Marco Huck, who he collided with back in 2017, in the quarter-final of the WBSS.
“My weakness, [is that] I love people. I love my opponent. Only one of my opponents, I didn’t love, it is Marco Huck.
“Yeah, he is a bad guy because this man said bad words for [about] my mama.”
Following a heated build-up, Usyk declared that he would ‘bury’ Huck when they fought and that he did, knocking the Berlin-based former world champion out in his own backyard in round 10 of their battle at Max Schmeling Hall.
Years prior to the bout, Huck had enjoyed the joint longest run as champion in the cruiserweight ranks, racking up 13 defences of the WBO belt. He still competes at 41-year-old, now at heavyweight, although at a much lower level than in his day.