Despite being thirty-eight years old and recently losing to undefeated two-division world champion David Benavidez in June 2024, former WBC and Lineal light heavyweight champion Oleksandr “The Nail” Gvozdyk (21-2, 17 KOs) remains undeterred in his quest to reclaim a world title at 175 pounds. He aims to stay active, win convincingly, and train relentlessly to ensure that he is prepared for his next world title opportunity, which he hopes will come next year.
Gvozdyk returned to the win column with a third-round knockout over Anthony Hollaway in April 2025. He dropped Hollaway twice in the third, prompting referee David Solivan to stop the one-sided bout at one minute and thirty-seven seconds.
“I am satisfied with my victory over Hollaway,” said Gvozdyk, who has won four of his last five bouts, three by knockout. “He was not a top guy, but he went the distance with decent prospects [Hollaway beat undefeated Granit Stein, [18-0-1] and Sonny McEwen [11-0], both victories coming within the last year] and has fought at higher weight classes.”
Rebuilding momentum through activity and elite sparring
The ten-year veteran is currently ranked third by the WBC and seventh by The Ring in one of the most competitive divisions in the sport of boxing. Dmitry Bivol became the undisputed light heavyweight champion after defeating Artur Beterbiev in a rematch (a twelve-round majority decision) in February. Beterbiev beat Bivol by the same decision in October 2024. The WBC ordered Bivol to make a mandatory defense against Benavidez this year, however, Bivol decided to move forward with a trilogy bout against Beterbiev. As a result, the WBC stripped Bivol of his title and declared Benavidez the champion.
“My plan this year is to stay as busy as possible. I am looking to fight again on June 28th in [Anaheim], California, on the undercard of [WBO/WBA cruiserweight world champion Gilberto, 47-1, 30 KOs] Ramírez’s main event [Ramírez is scheduled to fight his mandatory obligation Yuniel Dorticos],” said Gvozdyk, who is managed by 3 Point Management (3PM) since his last fight, which also manages Ramírez. “After that, fight on another Ramírez undercard, and then maybe, a significant fight by the end of the year.”
Gvozdyk trains at the 6,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art Brickhouse Boxing Club in North Hollywood, California, under the guidance of his long-time trainer Marco Contreras, who has been in his corner for all but three of his bouts (Teddy Atlas was his trainer for his fights against Adonis Stevenson, Doudou Ngumbu, and Beterbiev). The Brickhouse Boxing Club, which opened in May 2021, is also the training grounds for Ramírez (who is the principal owner of the boxing gym), super flyweight prospect John “Scrappy” Ramírez (14-1, 9 KOs), and undefeated up-and-coming middleweight Eric Priest (16-0, 8 KOs).
A veteran’s road: tragedy, triumph, and second chances
Gvozdyk became the WBC and Lineal light heavyweight title holder with a brutal eleventh-round knockout over one-loss Stevenson (unbeaten in his last seventeen bouts and a world champion for five years going into the fight) in December 2018. He landed ten unanswered punches that knocked Stevenson down to the canvas, and referee Michael Griffin immediately ended the bout. At the time of the stoppage, Stevenson was ahead on two of the judges’ scorecards (98-92, 96-94, and 95-95).
“Winning a world title was the biggest highlight of my boxing career, however, it was overshadowed by the dire situation when Stevenson sustained a brain injury after the fight. It was one of those unpleasant moments in boxing when he got hurt after our fight,” Gvozdyk said. “I was doing my job in the ring. It could have been me in his place, getting hurt. I do not feel guilty or believe it was my fault for what happened to him, even though I hit him, because this is what we do in boxing. We hit one another.”
Stevenson collapsed in his dressing room after the bout and was rushed to the local hospital, where he was placed in a medically induced coma and almost died. He woke up from the coma three weeks later. Over the years, Stevenson eventually regained the ability to walk and talk, but never fought again.
Gvozdyk returned to the ring three months after the Stevenson bout and successfully defended his title over Ngumbu. He obtained a fifth-round technical knockout when Ngumbu could not continue to fight fifty-eight seconds into the round due to a right calf injury. This was only the second time Ngumbu had been stopped in forty-eight professional bouts.
In his next fight, Gvozdyk sustained his first professional loss to then-unbeaten IBF title holder and future International Boxing Hall of Famer, Beterbiev, via a tenth-round technical knockout in October 2019. This was the first time in the light heavyweight division that two unbeaten fighters, in their prime, fought one another in an unification bout. Beterbiev, one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, dropped Gvozdyk three times in the tenth, afterwhich referee Gary Rosato stopped the bout.
It was a back-and-forth, competitive, action-packed fight for the first eight rounds. Gvozdyk outboxed Beterbiev in the first half of the bout, and at the time of the stoppage, he was leading on two of the judges’ scorecards (87-84, 86-85, and 83-87). Beterbiev, however, took over the fight in the last two rounds, with a 49-8 edge in power punches, particularly hard right jabs. He was close to knocking Gvozdyk down in the ninth.
“He did to me what he did to 99 percent of his opponents – he broke me down,” Gvozdyk said. “He was stronger and in better condition than I was. I ran out of gas in the second half of the fight, mainly due to his relentless pressure.”
After his loss to Beterbiev, Gvozdyk was out of boxing for four years. During this time, he quietly retired during the COVID-19 pandemic. His retirement was not due to the physical and emotional toll that the Beterbiev and Stevenson fights left on him, as was speculated. Instead, it resulted from the uncertainty and challenges brought about by the COVID lockdown.
“After losing to Beterbiev, I was in camp preparing for my next fight, which was scheduled for May 2020. However, the COVID lockdown occurred. There was a lot of uncertainty, especially since something like this had never happened. People were panicking, and nobody knew what would happen next,” Gvozdyk said. “After that fight got cancelled, I did not know when I would fight again. So, I decided to take a break from boxing and start a business in [his home country], Ukraine, and then the war with Russia started [in February 2022].”
Gvozdyk grew up in Kharkiv (northeast part of Ukraine), Ukraine’s second-largest city, and the closest major city to Russia (Russia did not take control of Kharkiv, although they came close in the first few months of the war). His father, Serhii Gvozdyk, an amateur boxer who introduced him to the sport at the age of eight, and his 94-year-old grandmother still reside in Kharkiv. Oleksandr has repeatedly offered to move Serhii to the United States, however, Serhii does not want to move.
“The war between Ukraine and Russia is unfortunate. I am from Kharkiv, 30 kilometers [18 miles] from the Russian border. We were always cool with the Russians, and for me, it felt like betrayal when Russia invaded,” said Gvozdyk, who has been back to Ukraine several times since the war broke out to see friends and volunteer for charitable organizations that help Ukrainians and the military. “It is horrible. I knew some people who have died. We live in the 21st century. It should not be this way. We are supposed to live in a civilized society.”
While growing up in Ukraine, Gvozdyk had a remarkable amateur career, with over 250 fights (225-30). He won a bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England, and a gold medal at the 2013 Summer Universiade in Kazan, Russia, both in the light heavyweight division. Gvozdyk was also a three-time Ukrainian amateur national champion (2009, 2010, and 2011). He moved from Ukraine to Oxnard, California, in January 2014 to start his professional career.
In early 2022, “Saul” Canelo Alvarez asked Gvozdyk to join his training camp as his sparring partner, as he prepared to move up from super middleweight to fight Bivol (Alvarez lost via a twelve-round unanimous decision to Bivol in May). Gvozdyk, who had not fought in over three years, was out of shape when camp began, but by the end of camp, he was fighting well and felt he had a lot of boxing left in him. So, he decided to make a comeback.
Gvozdyk returned to boxing in 2023. In less than seven months, he quickly won three bouts (two knockouts and a unanimous decision) against low-level competition. He sustained his second defeat to two-time super middleweight champion Benavidez (for the WBC interim light heavyweight title) in his only fight last year.
Benavidez, one of the best fighters in boxing, regardless of weight class, made his debut at 175 pounds, landing hard body shots and looping left hooks that Gvozdyk had no answers for. He threw and landed more punches, including jabs and power shots, than Gvozdyk, especially in the first five rounds. Gvozdyk fought better in the second half of the fight and caused a cut over Benavidez’s left eye in the eighth round, but it was not enough to overcome his slow start to the bout.
“Despite losing to top opponents, these setbacks have only strengthened me. I am now more motivated and focused than ever on reclaiming my position at the top of the boxing world,” Gvozdyk said. “This is a new chapter in my boxing career. Stay tuned. I am ready to become a world champion again.”