OLEKSANDR USYK says he has to keep boxing so he won’t end up like the Brazlian Ronaldo.
Ukraine’s WBC, WBA and WBO heavyweight king is 38 now and will take on 27-year-old IBF ace Daniel Dubois again on July 19 at Wembley Stadium.
Usyk faces Daniel Dubois at Wembley on July 19[/caption]
Usyk says he does not want to put on weight after retiring like Ronaldo[/caption]
The London 2012 golden boy is showing signs of silver in the haircut around his genius mind and is being pestered with retirement questions.
But the undisputed cruiser and heavyweight icon – who only started boxing at 15 – is a football fan who has seen 48-year-old Brazil legend Ronaldo pile on the pounds after retiring from professional sport.
Usyk, who is a Manchester United fan and has a professional footie substitute appearance for FC Polissya Zhytomyr on his CV, said: “Even when my career ends, I will always stay in boxing and training.
“I need to keep my organs fit and strong. For 23 years now I have been working on boxing alone, no more football or judo or anything.
“For example; Ronaldo was a great player – not Cristiano, the old Brazil one – but when he retired he got so big.
“He was so fast and good at dribbling and skinny but when he stopped football and sport he became a very big man.
“He stopped training and he lost his conditioning. I don’t want that, I want to live long and build up the Ukrainian boxing schools and teams.”
After Usyk dethroned Tyson Fury for a second time in May, he vowed to take time away from the sport to make up with his family.
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The two-fight Gypsy King rivalry cost him birthdays and anniversaries and even the 2024 birth of his daughter Maria.
But, just a fortnight into his hard-earned holiday, he was even pestering his devoted wife for sparring sessions on the family staircase.
He explained: “After Fury I only took two weeks off.
“I went back to Spain with my team and my guys and I was running and riding bikes and swimming but it’s not good enough.
“I was training hard, fitness training, regular hard training and shadow boxing.
“But I called my wife and told her: ‘Hey, I think I might want to go back to the boxing gym’. She said: ‘I know’.
“And then I was back home training every day, Sunday was my only day off for church to pray.
“After two weeks I could not rest, it was impossible.
“I was upstairs in my house and, every time I walked past a mirror, I was in my boxing stance and shadow boxing, bang, bang, bang, and move position.
“Sometimes my wife would walk by and I would tell her: ‘Punch me, punch me!
“But she would just kiss me to keep me quiet and stop.”
He was so fast and good at dribbling and skinny but when he stopped football and sport he became a very big man.
Usyk on Ramos
Usyk jabbed Dubois into submission in August 2023 in Poland and then went on to bamboozle Fury in sensational and mercurial style.
So Dynamite Dan is not going to waste his time on trying to outfox the silver fox, who he rates as more of a dullard than a mental dominatrix.
“I think he’s a boring guy,” the Brit ace said. “He should just be at home doing his mind s***. It’s all psychological.
“When they feel the real pain and heat they can break through that.
“I don’t think he can handle the pain and the heat I’m going to bring.
“I’m going to step up and win. Points, knockout, anything.”
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