At the Ergo Arena, Gdansk, Oleksandr Usyk emerged as one of the Cruiserweight division’s top players after dethroning WBO titlist Krzysztof Glowacki. Prior to the first bell, this encounter was considered a risky step up for Usyk, but the 9-fight strong contender looked very comfortable as he trumped his opponent over the distance to claim a Unanimous Decision.
Official scorecards were satisfyingly fair, coming in at 117-111 (twice) and 119-109, with Boxing Base also tallying Usyk ahead a country mile at 119-109. Usyk was just far too dominant in this fight to see it otherwise. The new champ now improves to a perfect 10 wins, 9 knockouts, while Glowacki picks up his first pro career blemish, falling to 26 wins, 1 defeat, 16 knockouts.
Usyk, who had enjoyed a well documented, glittering Amateur career, was quite simply the superior operator in every department, with far too much in his utility belt for Glowacki to deal with. Usyk fought a highly disciplined gameplan, darting in and out of range, putting his zipping, versatile attacks to fine use, as he confidently circled Glowacki on some unusually light feet. Well, for a Cruiser, anyway.
Glowacki had the occasional moment in this affair, generally playing the role of stalker, but wasn’t able to catch his challenger with anything too telling. Glowacki was given very few chances to get his shots off, something which highlighted the kind of opponent he was dancing with. Glowacki, who had done plenty of skull crunching previously – which included five knockdowns – against Marco Huck and Steve Cunningham, couldn’t get into beast mode tonight.
He was game as ever, however, showcased an iron chin, especially in the later rounds, but was ultimately outclassed. And that’s really all she wrote. Chime in with your own opinions on Glowacki vs Usyk in the comments below, folks. Is Usyk worth the hype? Is he the new ruler at 200 lbs?
