Oleksandr Usyk accused of having a ‘thin’ heavyweight resume ahead of 2026 return

Oleksandr Usyk is the undisputed heavyweight champion but has been urged to add more top names to his record before retiring

Oleksandr Usyk after stopping Daniel Dubois for the second time (Getty Images)

Boxing analyst Max Kellerman believes undisputed heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk’s resume in boxing’s blue-riband division is a “little thin”.

Usyk, 38, is currently sidelined with a back injury but is expected to return to the ring in 2026 and claimed last week that he is planning to fight until he is 41.

The Ukrainian great holds two victories over Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury and Daniel Dubois, respectively, but Kellerman feels he could do more to prove his greatness.

He has called for Usyk to take on challenges against new names, such as the winner of this weekend’s clash between Joseph Parker and Fabio Wardley, to strengthen his claim to being a heavyweight legend.

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(Getty Images)

“Usyk has become overrated as a heavyweight champion, historically, and underrated as a pound-for-pound guy, historically,” Kellerman said on Inside The Ring.

“But as a heavyweight, the resume, while it’s excellent at the top, it’s a little thin. He hasn’t beat 10 top heavyweights, something like that.

“Even for Usyk’s place in history, when you look back at the resume, he got Fury twice, he got Joshua twice, Parker will be one of those guys where even if they fight and Usyk wins… we bring up Joseph Parker to buttress Anthony Joshua’s resume.

“When you look at guys like Muhammad Ali, it’s not just that he beat Frazier and Foreman and Liston and Norton. He beat Jerry Quarry and Oscar Bonavena and Ron Lyle and Earnie Shavers, Henry Cooper and Doug Jones. He beat so many top fighters. Evander Holyfield, the same thing… he fought everyone in the era. It makes a difference, I think.”

Usyk has fought eight times at heavyweight after claiming undisputed status at cruiserweight in 2018.

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As well as dispatching Joshua, Fury and Dubois, Usyk has also beaten Derek Chisora and Chazz Witherspoon.

Kellerman may get his wish for Usyk to take on other contenders, with Ring Magazine journalist Mike Coppinger revealing the two-weight world champion is likely to return in the first half of 2026 to fight either Parker or Wardley.

Usyk has also been linked with fighting Britain’s rising star Moses Itauma, but he recently insisted the 20-year-old is not on his radar right now.

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