2026-05-27 15:32:47

Oleksandr Usyk’s former promoter has urged the world champion to retire.

Alexander Krassyuk played a crucial role in Usyk’s career, guiding him towards becoming a world heavyweight champion – but he believes Usyk should now consider his future following his unconvincing win over kickboxer Rico Verhoeven at the weekend.

Krassyuk, the K2 Promotions chief, told talkSPORT: “It is better to leave one hour before than one minute after.

“As a friend and as someone who has been with him for 12 years of his career, I wish for him to remain the best in ages and for him to retire.

“Even before this fight [I wanted him to retire] … We witnessed [on Saturday] something that, according to my understanding, shouldn’t have happened. But this is a sport of entertainment, and for this reason [it happened].”

Usyk looked a long way short of his imperious best over the weekend, and Krassyuk has suggested that his age might be catching up with him.

The promoter explained: “Oleksandr Usyk is the type of guy who prepares for every fight in the same way, but we have to keep in mind that he is 39 already.

“All the credit to Rico, who is almost the same age, but if you fight 12-rounders, it makes you feel exhausted at some point.

“I am friends with his current trainer, Yegor Golub, who had to replace the other trainer, Yurii Tkachenko, and I know they trained exactly the same way as they did before.

“It was exactly the same volume of work, but the difference between 33 and 36, and 36 and 39 is considerable, and it has to be taken into consideration by all the specialists who are preparing him for such a fight.”

Krassyuk suggested that Usyk has developed some bad habits in recent fights, too.

He added: “There were some things that looked similar in both [Dubois rematch and Verhoeven] fights.

“He looked flat-footed and the amount of steps he took in the ring considerably declined, and that is probably something that is coming from the mind of the camp rather than Usyk himself.

“They used to train him to [throw] a tougher, harder punch, rather than more of an amateur style where he won all of his titles.”

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