OLEKSANDR USYK, one of the most sought-after commodities in boxing right now, was once something that 'no one wanted' to do business with.
After dethroning Anthony Joshua as the unbeaten ex-cruiserweight king, the current champion of the unified heavyweight division is now a superstar.
Oleksandr Usyk, a young amatuer boxer
Usyk played football for most of his childhood, but he switched to boxing at age 15.
He found no trainers who were willing to accept the novice, as he was considered to be too late to start.
This was before he met Anatoly, the father of Vasiliy, a three-weight world champion.
Alexander Krassyuk, Usyk's promoter, told SunSport that Usyk played soccer but his family couldn't afford it because soccer was too expensive.
His family had to pay for his training but boxing was completely free. He then decided to pursue boxing.
He was just 15 years old at the time and few trainers were willing to accept a 15-year-old who had never boxed before. It was almost like a man no one wanted because he was already too old.
"So, there was one man that accepted him as a trainer. He became his trainer for a couple of years before he met Papa Lamachenko, who became his mentor.
Anatoly is credited with creating Lomachenko's "Matrix" style, which combines footwork and angles in a way that has never been seen before.
He even made his son do four years of ballet dancing to sharpen up his feet, as well as incorporating hand-eye-coordination drills like juggling.
Lomachenko, 33-year-old friend, and Usyk, 34-years-old, are almost six stone apart, but they have very similar, smooth southpaw styles.
They won gold together at the London Olympics and it paved the road for them to achieve pound-for-pound status with boxing.
Joshua's 31st win over Usyk was a career-defining victory that helped to repay Anatoly's faith in him as a young teenager.
Anatoly was his coach before the fight. Their years of hard work in the gym were there for all to see on the biggest stage in their history in front of 70,000 people at Tottenham's stadium.
Krassyuk stated that he is an extremely skilled boxer. This means that he is able to execute every move a boxer might know.
"He is able to know when and how to use it. He also knows how to combine strategies with different tactics.
His boxing intelligence is extremely high. He has a lot of experience in amateur boxing, having fought in over 300 bouts.
He won the world, European and Olympic championships. Similar to AJ, but AJ managed it with 45 fights.
"Usyk is a very skilled and coordinated footworker.
"So many people tell him he is small. But that works in his favor more than it does to his disadvantage.
He is smaller than AJ and can therefore coordinate his body better and more quickly. It has more to do his physical abilities.
He is a hard worker during training camp and his stamina and conditioning are at a high standard.
"But, if you look at his mindset, his mental abilities can be even stronger than his physical.
"He was raised in the streets, he had fights as a child.
He's been through many hard times in his life. But he isn't afraid of anything. He's not scared of any challenges. He's also not afraid to fight and he doesn't fear being punched.
He's a mature man, masculine now, and he's 100 per cent complete."
