What next for Usyk?

Lebedev is past prime. Tabiti is still a nobody. no point in rematching Glowacki or Breidis. Ward brings nothing to the table. no money, no credit, plus Usyk will have to concede every point. i doubt either Wilder or Fury would fight him anytime soon. it is either straight into a fight with Joshua or find an accomplished HW willing to take him on in 2-4 months time.

 

If I was advising him I’d take 2 fights before Joshua. A heavyweight that’s similar sized to him, maybe Povetkin and then a heavyweight that’s bigger and closer to Joshua’s size such as Parker. Or if I was playing it safe as the Joshua fight is going to be a massive payday I would take on Price or Takam in April before fighting Joshua in August.

 

Usyk isn't a "supermen" and fight with Bellew showed his weaknesses, so for the sake of money, the best decision will be faced with Joshua, if Usyk wins he will be the GOAT, if he loses at least he will earn a "tons of money".

 

This. Usyk should try to get his hands on Kownacki or Jennings, since a win over either would give him a top 10 ranking in the division. Afterwards he can go to work on positioning himself to fighting one of the champs.

 

I definitely want to see him at HW at this point. He just needs to stay away from the top guys for a couple of years.

 

He'd be crazy to fight Wilder or Fury for comparative peanuts and jeopardize his AJ payday. That is clearly not going to happen. He will either face AJ immediately or fight lesser hws he has more confidence of beating to acclimate himself to the division.

 

HEAVYWEIGHT. Take a good amount of time to put on some weight and muscle in all the right places, take on a a couple of lesser fight, 1 with somebody with the bulk and then maybe somebody with a good height and reach against him and then go for the titles.

Ive seen him with some big solid heavyweights and he looked plenty comfortable so as long as hes feeling right with the weight gains he should be a very dangerous heavyweight.

 

I think he handles Kownacki with ease. Kiladze was giving him all kinds of trouble early on and busted up his nose. Usyk would box circles around the easy to hit Kownacki and counter him over and over again.

Jennings would be a good but also safe introduction to heavyweight as Jennings isn't that big and lack power. Usyk should handle Jennings who didn't look that great in his last fight.

But if the eventual plan is to match Usyk with Joshua then the more exposure Usyk gets vs UK fighters on UK cards the better. Beating Bellew was a good start, I'd say the loser of Whyte/Chisora on the undercard of Joshua's April fight would be a good platform for Usyk.

 

No point hanging around at cruiser now, nothing to prove there. Also the Ward fight wouldn't be a massive money spinner and takes him nowhere if HW is his goal.

I wonder how much hangs on this upcoming April date and the WBO mandatory? It's too soon for Usyk he needs at least 1 or 2 hw fights beforehand, but if Whyte fights AJ and WBO make him the mandatory would Usyk's 'golden ticket' for being the undisputed cruiser champ override that? Would it still be applicable when the WBO mandatory next comes up? Anyone know how that works?

 

Put him in with a big strong heavy who can hit.

In most of his fight we see usyk beating guys with relentless pressure forcing them back and he can do this as he's not getting hit hard enough to make him think.

I would like to see him in against someone who can take his head off with one big counter punch. Will be interesting to see how he deals with that

Bellew caught him a few times with a counter straight right, can you imagine if AJ lands one of those on him.

But yeh couple of lesser fights then work his way up I don't see why he should just walk into joushua/wilder let him go through them and get in line like everyone else has to.

Couple of bums then into the top 10 guys.

I think Parker would be a great fight.

 

Don't think Parker could do any of the things you suggest. He'd get backed up vs Usyk despite his size advantage. Parker's problem is when he throws he's there to be countered so he gets punished every time he lets go with his hands and so gradually gets pushed onto the back foot and once there his lack of counter punching see's him get out worked and unable to mount any offence.

Parker need to rebuild, he's had 2 losses back to back, another and he'll be relegated to gate keeper level in many peoples eyes. He needs to string together some easy wins to build confidence and work on his flaws before stepping back up to elite level.

 

No I dont, that would take someone bigger and stronger.



I meant Parker would be a great fight because he's more usyks size, has a great chin and can box a bit with a high work rate.

But you are right, Parker shouldn't take that fight one more loss ruins his carerr.

 

Tony Bellew rematch.