Oleksandr Usyk is bulking up to become a true heavyweight as he prepares to challenge Anthony Joshua for his world titles.
Ukraine’s mandatory challenger will attempt to prize away the Brit’s WBA, IBF and WBO belts, with the contest set for Saturday night at Tottenham.
Usyk previously competed in the heavyweight division as a youngster and famously beat Joe Joyce back in 2013 during a semi-pro WSB competition.
In truth, he was undersized in these contests and so settled as a cruiserweight upon turning pro.
Within his first 16 fights, Usyk cleaned out the cruiserweight (200lbs) division.
He travelled to Poland to beat Krzysztof Glowacki, travelled to America to beat Michael Hunter, travelled to Germany to beat Marco Huck, travelled to Latvia to beat Mairis Briedis, travelled to Russia to beat Murat Gassiev and travelled to the UK to beat Tony Bellew.
By the end of it all, he was the undisputed WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO cruiserweight champion of the world.
Usyk was the undisputed champion at cruiserweight and wants to achieve the same at heavyweight
As a result, he opted to move up to heavyweight (200lbs+).
In his first fight in the division back in 2019, he scaled 215lbs and stopped gatekeeper Chazz Witherspoon.
Then, last October, he was 217¼lbs for a unanimous decision victory over Derek Chisora.
This fight did not go all Usyk’s own way though and questions have been raised about whether he’ll be big enough to handle AJ.
As a result, it appears he’s bulking up again and recently showed that he weighed 230lbs.