There is one man out there who has the unique accolade of having beaten both Oleksandr Usyk and Deontay Wilder.
Usyk has not lost a fight in a professional ring. He turned over shortly after picking up an Olympic Gold Medal at the London 2012 Games and, by 2018, he had cleared out the cruiserweight division and to become undisputed champion.
Six years on from that, back in May of this year, he also competed the heavyweight division by defeating Tyson Fury to add the WBC belt to the IBF, WBA and WBO titles he had already taken from Anthony Joshua back in 2021 then defended twice, once against Joshua in a rematch and again in with Daniel Dubois.
Before the Ukrainian made it to the heavyweight ranks, Wilder was long-reigning WBC Champion, knocking out anybody who attempted to take that status from him. A trilogy with Fury saw his streak end, fighting to a draw and then losing back-to-back via stoppage.
Since then, he has just one win – Robert Helenius – in three fights, most recently being outpointed by Joseph Parker and knocked out by Zhilei Zhang.
Though Usyk and Wilder have never faced off, they have a common opponent who defeated them both – Italy’s Clemente Russo.
Now 42 years old and retired, Russo was an amateur boxer who won gold at the 2007 and 2013 World Amateur Boxing Championships at heavyweight. He first competed at the Olympics back in 2004 in the light-heavyweight category, but fell short against the great Andre Ward.
He returned to the Games in 2008, touching down in Beijing and moving up in weight to put Usyk out early with a score of 7-4. He then defeated Wilder, who got the Bronze Medal and the birth of his ring moniker, ‘The Bronze Bomber.’ Russo lost out on Gold against Rakhim Chakkhiev.
Usyk would get his revenge at the London 2012 Summer Olympics when he faced Russo in the Gold Medal match and won, leaving Russo with Silver. The Italian never turned pro.
Outside of boxing, Russo made his debut as an actor in the film Tatanka in 2011 and, once he hung up his gloves, he became a police officer.
Usyk returns to the ring this December when he rematches Fury in defence of his now three world titles, while it seems that Wilder will also soon be making a comeback.
