LONDON, England – He called it Ivan.
Oleksandr Usyk, holding court at the post-fight press conference in the bowels of Wembley Stadium, raised his left arm and demonstrated the arcing left hook that an hour or so earlier had ended the IBF heavyweight title reign of Daniel Dubois and given the Ukrainian the third spell of his career as an undisputed champion.
He calls the punch ‘Ivan,’ for no particular reason, and it is not named after anybody.
But ‘Ivan’ left a trail of destruction like a hurricane, with Dubois on his back, listening as the referee counted to eight and beyond.
“It’s a hard punch,” Usyk smiled. “It’s a long time [he’s been practising it]. It was in the USA at cruiserweight [when he started using it].”
Of course, many looked ahead to Usyk’s next step in the immediate aftermath of his second defeat of Dubois.
Jake Paul showed up in the ring and called for some kind of contest. Joseph Parker was on hand to stake his claim as mandatory contender for the WBO title. Tyson Fury, running the streets of Morecambe at midnight, said Usyk’s performance had him training ready for a third fight – having twice been bested by the Ukrainian.
Usyk, now 38, wants to rest.
Before the bout, he said he would box Dubois and then take one more contest.
“Now I want to rest,” he said. “I cannot say who my next opponent is because I prepare three and a half months [for Dubois], I’ve not seen my wife and my family. Every day I live with my team – 14 guys in one house. Now I want to go back home and choose what’s next. “I will continue boxing and training but I cannot say who is my next opponent.”
Dubois had threatened “chaos” ahead of the fight, seeking vengeance for his defeat to Usyk in Poland two years ago.
But Usyk’s brilliance saw the Englishman dropped twice before the bout was stopped.
Dubois had shoved Usyk when the fight was announced, but Usyk was unflappable then and again last night.
“What we do before fights at a press conference, a push or speak, it’s show,” Usyk explained. “The ring is what’s real. I prepare with all my team for two years [since the first Dubois fight]. We prepared for this fight with my team, we learned in the first fight, we had a long time, two years, and we prepared combinations [that would work against Dubois].”
Usyk would not be drawn as to whether easing to victory over Dubois was his finest win (“I don’t know out of all my fights, but today is a great one”), and he again took the chance to thank his team and praise their support.
“We learn and work, because if you don’t work like this [hard], you don’t have this combination [of punches] and you don’t have this case [result],” he said. “Boxers have only three punches, front [jab], hook and uppercut but our coaches work on combinations and you learn them over a long time.”
Interestingly, Usyk was asked what his motivation for continuing was, having conquered two divisions on his way to being 24-0 (15 KOs).
“I don’t have motivation, I have discipline,” he said. “Motivation is temporary. I never wake up and have motivation, I only have discipline…. Motivation is good, but discipline is better.”
Usyk’s manager and confidant, Egis Klimas, sat to Usyk’s left, told the media that Usyk had envisioned last night a year earlier, when he opted to hand back the IBF belt so Anthony Joshua and Dubois would fight over it and Usyk would then have the chance to become a three-time undisputed ruler. They were in Canada filming a movie when Usyk told Klimas of the plan.
And it happened in London last night, in the UK, where Usyk has created so many incredible memories and written so much of his phenomenal history.
“UK is like a second home, because this is where I take all of my trophies,” he said.
“London 2012, [Tony] Bellew, [Dereck] Chisora, Joshua, three-time undisputed. I’m very grateful to this country.”
