Probably just a slip of the tongue on your part, but writing of Huck as gunshy last night would be insane. He kept trying and trying despite the fact that he was getting his head punched off and had almost no success at all. He was the opposite of gunshy. Usyk's movement in a tight circle has come on massively. When I first saw him I shrugged a bit - looked like your standard exceptional amateur who had to re-learn footwork and punching. But he just tightened it and tightened it and now he's changing the angles on guys on the regular, changing changing changing guys. For a fighter like Huck (Even at his best) that's really really hard, really hard. Now he's lost a step it was awful. That's all it was I reckon.
Could you elaborate--how exactly do you see things shifting? I'm not sure that many folks would be all that shocked about a nimble, highly skilled 6'3, 210-220lb heavyweight (Usyk in a couple years) beating a Deontay Wilder type, or that it would require modernists like me to reconsider any of our priors.
"Usyk would beat any 200lb fighter." Let's see if he even wins the Super Six. I don't think he can, let alone take on the best 200lb fighters ever. Also, I'm not sure why so many people have high hopes for Usyk at HW. He can beat some good fighters. But it's a dead end. I think he will be completely overpowered by the top HWs. Gassiev on the other hand, he can make a serious run.
He's probably ready to be done with boxing. The guy has been pro for almost 13 years now. I don't think he has a whole lot left in him.
Oh, he definitely kept trying and props to him for that, but I dunno there was just something missing. I noticed it in his last fight as well. He's no longer quite so willing to go for broke as he used to be, the venom isn't there. I'm not saying any version of Huck would have won that night, but I can see the Huck from the Povetkin fight giving Usyk a much harder time in the clinches, trying to take his head off every chance he gets or exploding with those wild flurries that caught out so many technically superior fighters in the past. That dude was a dangerous man. This version seemed a bit like Huck-lite.
I wouldn't consider losing to top guys in your division a success in the context of a championship run.
The fact you think he'd be completely overpowered is why it's exciting and why people are high on Usyk and hopeful of his HW run. He has an opportunity to prove the doubters wrong and show that the SHW dominance might not be as clear cut as first appears.
Who takes Wilder seriously? Haven't really jumped on the Usyk train. Doesn't seem to have the pop for the division and is a bit predictable.