At ‘The Smashing Machine’, alongside Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, some familiar faces made an appearance as well, including the world heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk. And despite being a ruthless champion, ‘The Cat’ came across as a remarkably sweet individual.

Emily Blunt revealed that Usyk loved indulging in unhealthy snacks on set, saying, ‘He wanted to eat [cake] all the time.’ The host appeared visibly stunned, responding with a confused expression, ‘An athlete cake?”

“The lovely PA was like, 'Alex, we need to get the fake sweat on you again,' and he hated the fake sweat. He was like 'Why?' as he didn't understand continuity, and she was like 'If I get you some cake, will you do it? And he goes 'Yes,' and so they would get him some cake,” Smirked Emily Blunt.

Johnson and Blunt joked that Usyk didn’t get the “why” behind some acting choices, so the directors bribed their heavyweight champ with cake. One could say that Usyk performs best against his opponents, but at other times, he is just a big softie.

Interestingly, ‘The Rock’ got a taste of Usyk’s focused fight mode on the movie set, and Johnson was absolutely flabbergasted.

‘The Rock’ has nothing but praise for Oleksandr Usyk

“First of all, amazing guy. Beautiful soul and open, and beautiful stories he would love to tell us,” said Johnson while speaking to Talksport. For the WWE star, Usyk had a calm and warm persona. Even when he is not boxing, Usyk described himself as “not harmful,” with a gentle and grounded look.

However, looks can be deceptive, and Johnson got a taste of it firsthand: “Some dudes look like ‘oh, that guy’s a killer’. His body and s***, right? And some dudes like Usyk can be a little deceptive because of how he looks. But when he locks up, that deception becomes reality. You could feel it in his legs and in his base.”

He further added, “And then we start sparring at the top of our fight, a couple of jabs out there. He is so fast. And you know, if one of these punches slips, I’m going to the hospital.”

With 24 victories and 0 losses, Oleksandr Usyk's professional career has been marked with nothing but success. Given that, what are your thoughts on him?

Written by

Suryakant Das

Edited by

Joyita Das