Oleksandr Usyk vs. Mairis Briedis & Yoann Kongolo vs. Andrejs Pokumeiko RBR.

Gassiev is very underrated on here and is much better than Briedis on a technical level. Expect him to blow out Dorticos next week with a right handed misile straight down the pike

 

David Haye didn't beat elites before he moved N.

Usyk and Breidis have better CVS already

 

easier to hit i think and slower.

 

The winner of this will be miles greater than Haye. Usyk beats Haye worse than he beat Mairis

 

Same way I see it. Dorticos does a lot of things well, and carries a heck of a punch himself.

I think that the Kudryashov fight happened so early in the tournament and was such a quick fight still kept him in the dark a bit....but it will be no upset if he beats Gassiev, who I also rate highly.

 

I agree with your prediction as to the next fight, 5/6 rds imo, but your assertion irt the technical levels of Breidis and Gassiev is a stretch

 

Late to the party here I know but Usyk really won me over tonight showing incredible toughness to compliment his ridiculous skill set. He proved his chin with all the big straight right hands the superb Briedid fed him.
However I still see Joshua as a mountain too high, I don't see Usyk holding those same right hands quite so well if it was AJ firing but it is an intriguing prospect for the future and a fight I desperately hope happens when the time is right.
With his movement, durability, stamina and all round ability along with his relatively modest power, Usyk could be a southpaw Muhammad Ali for the modern era. Seems to have a lot of personality too.

Anyway huge respect to both guys tonight. Nothing like two prime elite fighters of such size going at it in that fashion

 

Agreed that he may want to re-evaluate trainers.

He's got to get back to his movement. A lot of jabs and short shots were getting through- credit to Briedis- but the flipside of that is that Usyk has to do a better job against the orthodox jab in the future. He usually does better at that. A real surprise to me was how many of those got through, but that's the beauty of straight, compact punching.

 

Yes round 5 was the momentum switch, Usyk didn't really need to go toe to toe with Mairis in the early rounds, he just chose to.

 

We just saw the two best cruiserweights fight.

The winner of Gassiev-Dorticos will be an easier fight for Usyk than Briedis was.

 

no no Usyk actually was tired by the end of 12 round. I noticed that Latvian guy felt it at the end & started to press.

 

That's what's great about these fights you just don't know who's gonna win no one expected that sort of fight lol

 

Congrats to Usyk but he was getting hit way too much, maybe that's more of a credit to briedis, superb accuracy. Interestingly, despite landing so much both fighters never seemed to be in trouble.