Unbeaten heavyweight reveals exactly what it is like to spar Oleksandr Usyk after 70 gruelling rounds for Rico Verhoeven fight

When Commonwealth gold medallist Lewis Williams got the call to spar Oleksandr Usyk, he didn’t ask any questions.

For an amateur standout in the embryonic stages of his professional career, the opportunity to spend five and a half weeks in camp with a generational great was too good an opportunity to mull over.

Instagram / @_lewiswilliams

“I don’t even know how it happened,” the unbeaten 4-0 heavyweight told talkSPORT.com of how he was selected as a sparring partner for Usyk ‘s crossover clash with Rico Verhoeven, which takes place in Egypt this weekend.

“It was just a passing of phone numbers, and they reached out to say they wanted me. So that works for me. I didn’t ask anymore questions, I just said yes.

“Then, they were like, ‘Okay, sweet, what day are you flying?’

“It was a couple of days’ notice. I didn’t ask where I was going, I just jumped on a plane and figured it out from there.

“I didn’t even know how long I was going to be there for.”

Luckily for Williams, Usyk’s camp is now based in the sunny Spanish coastal town of Gandia.

But while tourists flocked to the sandy beaches to bask in the beaming Mediterranean sun, Williams was being pushed to his limits in the gym.

Iron sharpens iron

“The experience was nuts,” Williams added. “Lots of rounds, and lots of knowledge I could take away.

“For me, it was a chance to get lots of experience from him while he is still around because he’s got a few fights left.

“He’s going to go down as one of the best, so I’m quite chuffed that they were able to go and find my name and say, ‘Yeah, we want you out of everybody in the world’. So I’m very fortunate.

Instagram / @_lewiswilliams

“There were only a few sparring partners each day, so I got around 70 rounds with him.

“When I wasn’t in the ring, I was studying and watching him spar with the others.

“I didn’t want to waste my time hitting the bag; I can do that anywhere.”

Sparring Usyk

So, just how good is Usyk? And what is it like to share the ring with him?

“He was as good as I expected,” continued Williams. “I’ve watched a lot of his tricks, so then I started copying all the cool moves and mimicking them back.

“It was very interesting. He gave me a little lesson on boxing.

Instagram / @_lewiswilliams

“I’m usually the sharp one, and he was making me work really hard even in a few rounds.

“So then he started to give me some advice, and he showed me a few things, which I took away.

“There were a few tricks he pulled on me, and I’ve gone, ‘How did he do that?’

“And then the next time I’d put myself in that danger point and figure out how he did it. I might take a shot doing it, but then I would figure out how it happened and adjust.

“So that’s how I would learn. But yeah, he’s super smart.

“Everything you see on social media is true. Nothing is false.

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“He would pray before and after the sparring and the training. It’s good to see none of that was just for social media.

“He was a good, honest man, and he was open with his time.

“But he was incredibly smart, and his fitness was incredible.

“It just made me think, ‘I’ve got to go up more levels, because his level is the level I aspire to be at.'”

Ringwalks for Usyk vs Verhoeven are scheduled for roughly 10:45pm BST at the Pyramids of Giza, Egypt.

Hamzah Sheeraz, Jack Catterall and Richard Torrez Jr all feature on a stacked undercard.

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