People's champion. It often means more than the belts. It certainly does over time. Oleksandr Usyk is a modern fighting master, of that there is no doubt, but the keys to his success remain his understated consistency and honesty to his craft. He lives the life. He is true to himself. Alongside the Ukrainian's natural skill, heart, determination and fighting spirit. And there is absolutely no quit in the man.

What fans have come to love with Usyk is his ability to come back in fights like few others in modern boxing, with a radar for deception with his incredible footwork. Witness the first fight with Tyson Fury, and the second fight with Anthony Joshua. The final rounds, the generalship of the ring.

There is the emotion, moreover, which has made him a much loved human being to go with along with all those other, special, fighting qualities. He has spoken of his late father, a tough man, not telling him to his face that he loved him. Though Oleksandr knew he did. He has broken down in tears explaining that... and maybe that is what has made Usyk who he is. Add to that, the background of his country being at war, and it has made the champion a folkloric figure in the sport. Usyk's country,

Ukraine, has been at war for over three years now, through his great rise, and the boxer even signed up to fight with a territorial defense battalion in Kyiv, stating that he had “no fear” and was prepared to die rather than think about his boxing career and defending the heavyweight titles.

Fellow soldiers told Usyk that they would prefer him to leave, go to his craft, and that they would prefer to watch him in the ring, projecting the honour of Ukraine around the world. That is exactly why Usyk has stated that his country and his honour would always be more important than anything he achieves in the ring. Some man. Some warrior !

There is an argument to be put forward that Usyk is already a modern great in boxing terms, as an undisputed king of two divisions, notably in the heavyweight division. And indeed, the first undisputed heavyweight king for a quarter of a century, following in the path of the great Lennox Lewis, who, I believe might just have been the greatest heavyweight ever.

Lewis has told me he would have "rushed" Usyk in a fight, but what a fight that would have been. Many would say that Lewis's size and skills would have been too much for Usyk. Alas, we shall never know. But we can debate it, such is the beauty of our sport.

Also notable about this man from the Cossack lineage is that long portions of Usyk's resume in the ring has been accomplished on the road, on foreign soil, where he continues to find admirers of his bearing, attitude and modesty. There is so much to be said for that, as he has grown as a sporting, and public figure.

Remarkably, moreover, there is no spite in his demeanour, he never indulges in trash talking, and as his promoter Alex Krassyuk has explained to me, of his man: "He [Usyk] loves his opponent, he respects him, and with a full heart of love he hits him according to the rules, but he doesn’t feel this anger he doesn't feel like he’s doing damage, no, his objective is to win and the less damage he does to his opponent the better. This is his philosophy." Usyk sees boxing as a sport, and wants his rivals - win, lose or draw, but hopefully winning - go back safe and healthily to their families.

You only have to look at his record: Usyk's boxing career is a tome of extraordinary work. He has already cemented himself into any hall of fame you might care to mention. As an amateur boxer, Usyk claimed a heavyweight gold medal at the 2011 World Amateur Championships and then the heavyweight gold medal at the 2012 Olympics, his final amateur record standing at 335 wins and 15 losses. Usyk emerged from a great period of boxing in Ukraine, and from the shadows of the two Klitschko brothers,

Vitali and Wladimir, who were also both world heavyweight champions. In his professional career, Usyk amassed all the cruiserweight belts, defeating a clutch of formidable opponents, again, all on their home soil. After dominating the cruiserweight division, and with his country at war, Usyk then took over the heavyweight standings.

Always calm, always methodical, always brilliant. Against Tyson Fury, he claimed the undisputed heavyweight crown in a riveting contest in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Usyk stood 6ft 3ins and 16st against a 6ft 9ins tall, nearly 20st rival, and used his skills to claim a close battle, giving his all. Usyk will give everything once more this week. It will be hard again, maybe harder this time, and if he has his hand raised, my view is that he should be considered an all-time great. No question.