Usyk Names Tony Bellew, Not Fury or Joshua, His Toughest Test

Ask Oleksandr Usyk to name the best fighter he's ever faced and you'd expect a heavyweight. Tyson Fury, maybe. Anthony Joshua. Daniel Dubois. The Ukrainian beat all three twice apiece to become undisputed at heavyweight, a feat only Evander Holyfield had managed before him. Instead, the 25-0 lineal champion reached back to November 2018 and picked Tony Bellew, the man he stopped in the eighth round in Bellew's final professional bout.

Speaking on Ring Champs With Ak & Barak, Usyk said Bellew was the toughest opponent of his career — a striking answer given the résumé he's built since. Usyk is 25-0 with 16 knockouts, unbeaten since turning pro in 2013 off the back of Olympic gold in London the year before. He collected a world title in just his 10th fight, taking the WBO cruiserweight belt off Krzysztof Głowacki, then swept the division before moving up.

Why Bellew Earned the Nod

On paper it's a curious pick. Bellew came into that 2018 fight as a cruiserweight who'd been beaten twice at light heavyweight before finally landing gold, stopping Ilunga Makabu at Goodison Park in May 2016. But he was no soft touch. Bellew had jumped up to heavyweight and stopped David Haye twice, closing his career at 30-4. That's a man who kept finding ways to win against bigger opponents.

The Usyk fight was where it ended. Usyk was defending his undisputed cruiserweight crown, and the eighth-round knockout sent Bellew into retirement on the spot. It stands as one of only nine stoppages on Usyk's ledger — his finish rate has always leaned modest for a champion, which makes the credit he's giving Bellew's durability all the more telling.

Context matters here too. Since that night Usyk has done nothing but climb. He unified at cruiserweight, then repeated the trick up top, beating Fury, Joshua and Dubois twice each. Fury sits at 36-2-1 and #3 in the division. Joshua, now 29-4, and Dubois, the WBO champ at 23-3 with 22 knockouts, are still active names.

So Usyk had plenty of elite heavyweight options to choose from and passed on all of them. Whether it's genuine respect or a nod to how much Bellew made him work, the answer says something about how Usyk measures difficulty — not by fame or size, but by the fight itself.