As Oleksandr Usyk prepares for his upcoming clash with unified world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua on September 25, we reminisced on the star’s brutal knockout of Tony Bellew back in 2018.
The fight, which took place at the Manchester Arena in 2018, was for the undisputed cruiserweight championship and later saw Usyk confirm his intentions of moving up to the heavyweight division.
Round one saw both fighters attempt to feel out the other and find their feet in the ring. Usyk landed just three jabs and Bellew, only one power shot. The crowd made their feelings heard towards the end of the round, as they booed due to the lack of action from either side.
Bellew took rounds two and three in his favour but, by the end of round four, his tiredness became evident as he was backed up against the ropes.
The Liverpudlian was aiming his shots towards Usyk’s body and by the seventh round, his opponent was too quick on his feet for any of Bellew’s shots to be landing - and consequently ended the round with a bloody nose.
Usyk landed a powerful left in round eight, which caused the Brit to move against the ropes, and all it took was one more left hand to send Bellew dropping backwards onto the canvas, with his head landing on the bottom rope and, therefore, leaving Usyk victorious.
The full fight can be seen in the video below, but we've sped it up to the actual knockout... What. A. Combo!
How about that super slow-mo as well?!
The fight saw the Ukrainian’s perfect record extended to 16-0 and marked the end of Bellew’s boxing career.
Looking ahead to the clash with fellow Olympic gold medalist Joshua, the two stars are set to weigh-in on September 24.
With ‘AJ’ looking more slimmed down and Usyk bulking up, it’s unknown what to expect when the two heavyweights step on the scales this Friday.
The highly-anticipated bout takes place at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London and will be for Joshua’s WBA (Super), IBF, WBO and IBO belts.