Since last weekend, fans have debated where Oleksandr Usyk sits both in the current pound-for-pound rankings and amongst the all-time greats of the heavyweight division, following on from his undisputed title win against Tyson Fury.

The slick southpaw has won each of his 22 professional contests to date and is unbeaten in competitions since 2009, but here we look at what happened the eleven men who defeated Usyk on his 335-15 amateur record (dismissing walkovers).

Sergey Sklyarov

Aged just 18-years-old, Oleksandr Usyk suffered a first defeat in the amateurs to Russia’s Sergey Sklyarov, losing 56-38 in the preliminary rounds of the 2005 EABA European Junior Championships.

Sklyarov never turned professional after struggling to find any further amateur success and recently became both a judge and referee in Russia, scoring 28 bouts since March 2022.

Lukasz Wawrzyczek

Four months later, Usyk would lose for a second time as he was travelled to Poland and was trumped by Lukasz Wawrzyczek on away soil in a middleweight bout – hence why Tyson Fury famously labelled Usyk as a ‘blown-up middleweight’ in the build-up to their fight.

‘Luki’ won the affair by split-decision in what was one of 220 outings as an amateur, turning professional a few months later and competing between the years of 2007-2014.

Strangely enough, Wawrzyczek often fought across the U.K. and Ireland during the early stages of his career but struggled when attempting to move up from domestic Polish level, losing to fringe contenders such as Kamil Szeremeta and Patrick Nielsen in his final year as a professional.

In a recent interview with talkSPORT, Wawrzyczek reminisced of the time he faced the now two-division undisputed champion of the world, remembering how he pushed forward to win the all-important third-round.

“Back in the day I was a welterweight, they [the Ukrainian team] said, ‘Oh, we have a young boy, 18 years old, in the middleweight division, do you want to fight with him?’ That was Oleksandr Usyk.

“He was already a European junior champion. He was much bigger than me, but I said, ‘Yeah, why not, let’s fight,’ and we did.

“My national team coach said, ‘Lukasz, it’s a draw. If you lose this round you lose the fight.’

“So I went the whole round [going] forward and I won that third round and the fight.”

Omer Aydogan

In February 2006, Usyk made it to the finals of the 50.Bocskai Memorial tournament in Debrecen, Hungary, defeating Sayed Mohammadzadeh, eventual super-middleweight world title challenger Ronald Gavril and Petrisor Gananau in the rounds prior.

In the final, he was tasked with Turkey’s Ömer Aydogan, where he lost 21-11. Aydogan would never make the switch to the professional ranks and was defeated by James DeGale in the semi-finals of the EU championships in 2008.

Mohamed Hikal x2

The only man to twice beat Oleksandr Usyk in the amateurs was Mohamed Hikal, a highly-rated fighter from Egypt. Hikal competed at each of the 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympic games, the first two of those games being fought in the welterweight division and the latter two being up at middleweight.

In 2005, Hikal upset the odds to defeat Gennadiy Golovkin to reach the semi-finals of the World Amateur Boxing Championships, but picked up the bronze medal after he was outpointed by Ismayl Silakh.

A few months later, he defeated Usyk in the final of the 2006 Ahmet Comert Tournament and then again five months on in Azerbaijan, winning comfortably on the cards on both occasions.

Matvey Korobov

At that same 2005 tournament, Matvey Korobov was the man to come out on top – defeating the same Ismayl Silakh that overcame Mohamed Hikal, winning the gold medal.

He too would triumph over Usyk but more notably he became the first fighter to drop the eventual pound-for-pound star and is the only man to have stopped Usyk, pummelling the then 19-year-old until the referee ended the fight via the “Mercy Rule” – this being the foundation of rumours that Usyk is weak to the body.

Korobov would win another world championship in 2007 and turned professional the following year, although he was unable to conquer the pro ranks in the same way he did the amateurs.

The Russian challenged for the WBO middleweight title in 2014 but was knocked out by Andy Lee and retired after four bouts without a win, the first of that run being a closely fought battle with Jermall Charlo in 2018 that was scored extremely wide.

Shawn Porter

The first of two men to beat Usyk and later become world champion was America’s Shawn Porter, who compiled an impressive record of 276-14 as an amateur, winning the 2007 Golden Gloves.

Just before that, Porter faced Usyk in a four-round affair that was scored by a computerised system, edging out the scrap with a 23-20 points win. In a 2022 interview, Porter yearned for footage of their encounter to be sourced.

“It was a boxing match man, four two-minute rounds. We were fighting on the computer points system. Most of you guys don’t know much about it. I wouldn’t even try to explain it right now.

“It was very close, it was a two-point spread or something, it was close.

“I’ve said it multiple times, if I ever come across that video the first thing, I’ll do is hit up Usyk, make sure he’s okay with us putting it out and try figure out a way for us to both make money putting it out cause it’s four two-minute rounds. It’s quick, but there is greatness within it. I promise you.”

Of course, Porter would go on to reign as a welterweight world champion on two separation occasions, claiming the IBF world title with a win against Devon Alexander in 2013 before losing it to Kell Brook nine months later. Then returning to the 147lb throne by outpointing Danny Garcia to pick up the WBC belt, which was seized by Errol Spence Jr a year later.

Babacar Kamara

After losing out to Mohamed Hikal in the final of the Ahmet Comert Tournament a year prior, Usyk returned in 2007 but was eliminated in the preliminary round by Sweden’s Babacar Kamara, just weeks after Kamara had lost by a singular point to amateur rival Badou Jack in the final of the Swedish National Championships.

Kamara would later lose out against the likes of Artur Beterbiev, Vladimir Shishkin and Oleksandr Gvozdyk but finally managed to claim the Swedish National Championship some eleven years after his heartbreak against Jack, defeating Nermin Hajdarpasic in the 2018 final.

Artur Beterbiev

Without question, Artur Beterbiev was Usyk most famous amateur rival, as the pair shared the ring on three occasions, Usyk coming away from their trilogy as the 2-1 winner. Their first meeting is where Beterbiev got his win, taking a controversial 12-10 win on the cards in his home country of Russia.

Although, it is their second meeting at the 2011 AIBA’s that is the most talked about. Just as Korobov did, Beterbiev floored Usyk with a vicious body shot in a clip that continuously does the rounds on social media and remains as the basis for theories that strikes to the gut are Usyk’s Kryptonite.

Flashback to Artur Beterbiev dropping Oleksandr Usyk to the body, in the Quater Final of the 2011 World Championships. pic.twitter.com/V9U8NI7ojU

— Boxing Kingdom (@BoxingKingdom14) May 17, 2024

In their final coming together, a matured Usyk was the deserved winner in a London 2012 Olympic quarter-final, which Usyk went on to win.

Beterbiev has taken the world of professional boxing by storm since turning over in 2013 and remains as though only current reigning champion with a 100% knockout ratio, stopping all 20 of his opponents on his way to becoming the unified light-heavyweight champion of the world.

The Russian-Canadian was poised to challenge for undisputed glory next weekend, but an injury has forced him to withdraw from the event, with Malik Zinad taking his place and bidding for Dmitry Bivol’s WBA title.

Xiaoping Zhang

Once again, Oleksandr Usyk fell short at the Ahmet Comert Tournament, this time losing in the 2008 final to Xiaoping Zhang.

The Chinese light-heavyweight would then go on to beat Artur Beterbiev, before winning the Beijing 2012 gold medal with a win against Ireland’s Kenny Egan in the final, where many of Egan’s punches were not recorded by the judges in a classic amateur robbery for the home fighter on the biggest of stages.

Xiaoping Zhang is the only man to have defeated both Oleksandr Usyk and Artur Beterbiev, although both of those victories are also deemed as highly controversial.

Clemente Russo

In terms of accolades, Clemente Russo is arguably the most prestigious amateur fighter to defeat Oleksandr Usyk, with two World Championship’s and two Olympic silver medals to his name.

At the Beijing Olympics in 2008, Usyk had tough luck when drawing the Italian and Russo obliged with a 7-4 win in their quarter-final. Russo would then defeat a certain Deontay Wilder in the semi, before losing to Rakhim Chakhiev in the final.

However, Usyk would get his revenge over Russo at the next Olympic games, defeating Russo 14-11 in the final of London 2012 to achieve his dream of bringing home the gold for Ukraine. As he did throughout his amateur career, Russo continues to work as a policeman in his native country and is hailed as one of Italy’s greatest ever fighters, despite never turning professional.

Egor Mekhontsev

After all of these defeats we finally arrive at Egor Mekhontsev, Usyk’s most recent shortcoming, which occurred back in 2009 when he was just 22-years-old – meaning he has gone an astounding 15 years undefeated. The Russian southpaw faced Usyk in the semi-finals of the AIBA world championships, beating Russo (above) in the quarter-finals and Osmay Acosta in the final to win the tournament.

Three years later, like Usyk, Mekhontsev won gold at London 2012, operating in the light-heavyweight division. In 2013, he would make his professional debut and won his first six outings by stoppage, eventually extending his unbeaten run to 13-0-1 by 2017, but not entering the ring since.