Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Usyk shared his thoughts on the main problem of the Soviet boxing school in the professional ring. He noted that the difference between amateur and professional boxing lies not only in the number of rounds, but also in the philosophy of fighting and training methods.
According to Usyk, the history of boxing in Ukraine and former Soviet countries is based more on scoring points. In amateur boxing, an athlete learns to land more accurate punches over three rounds, accumulate points, and win by judges' decision. However, in the professional ring, strength, stamina, punch power, and the ability to break an opponent over 12 rounds are of great importance.
The boxer believes that in American and British schools, fighters focus more on heavy punches. They may move less, but they strive to make every punch heavy and impactful. Usyk explains this with the idea that "muscle is a habit," emphasizing that a boxer trained to hit hard will eventually become a powerful puncher.
Usyk stated that representatives of the Soviet school must adapt to professional boxing, moving away from a point-scoring style and becoming prepared for punch power and long-distance fights. In his opinion, not only boxers but also coaches need to retrain in this process, because it is difficult to go far with the old scheme in the pro ring — every round there is a separate exam.
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