Viktor Jurk is a giant heavyweight impersonator to the stars.

A 6ft 8½ins German southpaw, Jurk has been brought into training camps by Anthony Joshua, Derek Chisora, Dillian Whyte, Oleksandr Usyk and Agit Kabayel.

Still only 25, Jurk is also 13-0 (11 KOs), with nine first-round stoppages.

He is also ambitious, and wants to reach the top.

It was former world cruiserweight Johnny Nelson who recalled sparring big names and being told to hold something back by his coach, Brendan Ingle, so those he was sharing a ring with didn’t know what to really expect if they ever fought.

Has Jurk shown those fighters his best work?

“That’s right,” he replies to BoxingScene, when the Nelson story is told to him. “That’s the right point, but I’ll tell you one thing. I don’t spar those guys I would fight. So let’s be honest. I wouldn’t fight Usyk. Probably it’s impossible to fight him [with Usyk saying he has just three fights left]. You see, even those top guys don’t fight him. He’s just now the super champion.

“He chooses whatever he wants.”

Kabayel is the youngest of the stars Jurk has worked with. What about the WBC’s top contender?

“Maybe, we don’t know,” he said. “This could maybe be a fight in the future. Like, it depends how quick I develop and how quick I come in the rankings. But this is like the only fight I can say is possible in the future, because Usyk and the rest is too old.”

Usyk, of course, fights kickboxer Rico Verhoeven in May in Egypt, and has clearly ascended to the top spot in the division with a brace of victories over Daniel Dubois, Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua – twice each, in fact. 

He stands out to Jurk, too.

“Before I sparred Usyk, I knew he’s good. But when you step in the ring and see him fighting with you, you understand how good he is,” Jurk said. “He’s not about hitting hard or, when you think about Joshua, you say, or he’s a big puncher with the right hand. You wouldn’t say that about Usyk. But Usyk is very technical and tactical. He’s like a cowboy, he’s looking at you, see the targets and it just goes with six-, seven-punch combinations, and they’re very precise. He’s very accurate.  I’ll say his experience is quite big, like he has a big amateur background. He has like nearly 400 amateur fights. Then he fought in the pros, almost all the best guys of the world in every weight class [cruiserweight and heavyweight]. When you spar Usyk, I would say he’s like a master. You are a student, and he is a master. Sometimes you’re good, but he’s better. You have a good idea how to go the rounds with him, but he’s better the next day or he analyzes you and says, ‘OK, next day I’ll give you this work.’ You give him good work, he gives you better work. This is Usyk.”

And Usyk arrives in camp in shape, so there’s no chance to take advantage of poor conditioning at the start. He trains three times a day, cools to twice a day, and by that point, Jurk says he can feel the difference as Usyk nears a peak.

“You have big trouble to hit him, because he analyzes you – the whole team [looks at you], they look at the sparring so they know exactly how you work. I think this is the reason why those guys win the fights.
But I would say like the heaviest hands I ever got is from Derek [Chisora]. I’ll be honest.”

Jurk said that even with his hands up high, he could feel the impact of Chisora’s booming blows. 

“Man, Derek can punch,” he added. “It’s kind of funny, because you see that punch is still coming. It’s kind of weird – you can’t avoid it.”

Behind the emergence of Kabayel, there is an increased momentum in boxing in Germany.

Jurk believes that is the case, along with MMA and other combat sports, but he says the depth of quality is inferior to other countries, pointing to the heavyweight landscape in the UK and the likes of Frazer Clarke, Jeamie TKV and David Adeleye all having the ability to fight one another in meaningful and educational bouts. He also points once more to Chisora, in that a favorite like the divisive Londoner gets opportunities despite defeats “because he brings the fights, he brings the fire.” 

“And Germany,” said Jurk, “I hope we get to this point as well, because otherwise we can’t fight each other because everyone is scared of losing the zero [undefeated record]. There is no reason to fight if both are scared to lose. It’s a one-man sport. It’s a combat sport. There is a loser always.”