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Oleksandr Usyk had to be rescued by coaches after FAINTING while trying to hold his breath underwater during extreme training sessions with the Ukrainian national boxing team as an amateur
- Oleksandr Usyk attributes his fantastic stamina to his swimming training
- However, the Ukrainian’s attempts to improve his cardio almost ended in disaster
- In one incident, Usyk had to be rescued by teammates after passing out underwater
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Unified World Heavyweight Champion Oleksandr Usyk once passed out during an extreme training exercise during his time as an amateur fighter.
Ahead of his triumph in last month’s rematch with Anthony Joshua, Usyk’s trainer Egis Klimas attributed the former undisputed cruiserweight king’s incredible in-ring cardio to his many hours spent in the pool, even boasting that the Ukrainian is can hold your breath for four minutes and forty seconds underwater.
However, using the pool as a training tool is not new to Usyk. The 35-year-old regularly used swimming training as a method of developing his stamina during his time with the Ukrainian national amateur boxing team as a youth.
Oleksandr Usyk told of a horrific experience where he nearly drowned when he was young
The Ukrainian passed out trying to hold his breath underwater during training
Speaking of being YouTube channel USYK 17The Ukrainian recalled a particularly harrowing experience where his teammates had to jump into the pool to rescue him after he passed out underwater.
“You’re swimming and all of a sudden you feel such a pain in your knee and you think you can’t go on, you just can’t go on. A muscle is so tense and the pain is just unbearable. The pain is in your shoulder, your knee, or even the tips of your mustache.
“And you think, ‘Okay, I’m done. Better stop and try next time.’ This means you can’t stop – if you start to think like that, that’s the signal to keep going.
‘You can’t give up. If you give up now, you will when you fight. It is a breaking point that you will surely reach during your fight. Every athlete knows what it is. No one can do anything ‘next time’, so you just don’t stop.
Usyk, 35, has set his sights on an undisputed fight with Tyson Fury for next year
“You know I’m a little crazy and so my coaches are watching me closely. If I pass out, they’ll save me. Once, while holding my breath underwater, I briefly passed out and was immediately taken out of the pool.’
After defeating Joshua in August, Usyk was slated to take on co-heavyweight title holder Tyson Fury in a fight that would have defined the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis.
However, as talks over a fight between Fury and Joshua intensify, it seems the Ukrainian may have to wait for his chance to make history against the Gypsy King.