The blueprint to beat Oleksandr Usyk is a simple one, according to an Olympic gold medallist –– and he has urged Deontay Wilder to take note.
Usyk and Wilder are currently in talks over a potential bout next year, negotiations set in motion after the unified heavyweight champion publicly called out ‘The Bronze Bomber.’
It would pair boxing’s most accomplished technician with one of its most destructive punchers, albeit a version of Wilder some way removed from his ferocious peak.
Just as Muhammad Ali proved himself against the finest heavyweights of his era –– Joe Frazier, Ken Norton and George Foreman –– Usyk has already swept aside the best of his generation.
Victories over Anthony Joshua, Daniel Dubois and Tyson Fury all twice have established the Ukrainian as the defining heavyweight of the modern era.
Wilder, however, is no longer the marauding WBC champion who once tore through the division with concussive ease. Back-to-back defeats to Joseph Parker and Zhilei Zhang have left his career at a crossroads, with the sense that time may finally be catching up.
If Wilder is to pull off one of the great heavyweight upsets, he could do worse than listen to Egor Mekhontsev.
At the 2012 London Olympics, Mekhontsev claimed gold at light-heavyweight for Russia, while Usyk topped the podium at heavyweight for Ukraine. Three years earlier, however, Mekhontsev achieved something no other fighter –– amateur or professional –– has managed since: he beat Usyk.
The pair met at the semi-final stage of the 2009 Amateur World Championships in Milan, where Mekhontsev earned a points victory on his way to gold. Although his professional career failed to mirror that amateur success, Mekhontsev recently outlined his approach to defeating Usyk during a conversation with Wilder, filmed by ES News.
“I tell him move quickly, move fast, only speed. He’s big, strong guy. If you want to win you need big speed. You need speed like Usyk. If you [throw] body shot he’s down. He don’t like body shots. Look at my amateur fight with him –– he don’t like liver punches.”
Targeting Usyk’s body has long been a talking point and appeared to bear fruit during Daniel Dubois’ world title challenge in August 2023, when the Briton believed he had dropped Usyk with a fifth-round body shot in Poland. Referee Luis Pabon ruled the punch low and allowed Usyk the full recovery time.
Usyk regrouped to stop Dubois in the ninth round and emphatically underlined his supremacy earlier this year, halting the Londoner again in their rematch. The result crowned him a two-time undisputed heavyweight champion, this time with a fifth-round knockout –– and left the rest of the division still searching for answers.
