Lennox Lewis calls Usyk a question mark

Well who at the time was beating better opponents?

Byrd was a legit top 3/5 heavyweight

 

Do you have an issue with reading comprehension? I said he failed at the top level and spelled it out two posts ago. It’s an objective post and not talking about Byrd’s ranking.

 

But he was at top level in the division, maybe not elite level as he lost against Wlad, but if Byrd wasn’t top level who did you consider top level at that time?

 

Or, you could see him as being as tall as Muhammad Ali and heavier

 

naw, Byrd was a stud but lacked size and punching power (just like Usyk) but he was extremely slick (just like Usyk). If Usyk have a Byrd type of career he should be happy.

Byrd was about done when he fought Povetkin and didn’t really care for training, I have no doubt that he would beat him if he still was in his prime.

btw I was in Byrd’s training camp in his fight before Povetkin that was against Paul Marinaccio. Byrd trained very limited and was about done already then.

 

I agree with this. Also agree that Usyk != Botha in any shape or form. Botha was a toughman spoiler who used to fight face first. His footwork wasn't even on the same planet as Usyk. Botha may have hit harder.

 

Again, this is a reading comprehension issue. His results against the top tier at heavyweight were not good.

 

That may be true about the Povetkin fight, but my argument is not based on that fight.

 

But I’m honestly baffled by what you would consider top level?

 

If Lewis set down the mic and headphones he might still be able to put hands on Usyk

Cant disagree with anything he said here

 

Usyk is probably naturally bigger than the past prime Holy that Lewis struggled with

 

Prime Bowe Holyfield beats Lewis down badly.

 

Wlad was top level when Byrd fought him.

Ibeabuchi, Vitali, and Povetkin would go on to earn top five rankings, so they're close enough.

The guys who Byrd beat would be underdogs against all five of the them. (2001 Tua would have somewhat close odds against Ike.)

 

Not exactly a shock opinion though is it, of course Usyk is a question mark until he fights a half decent heavyweight. I think lewis gets some undue flack, he is wrong a lot of the time but with all he has accomplished he doesn’t strike me as the jealous type. I think a lot of his comments are born out of some idea around how he thinks things should go, which is obviously a bit silly. Lewis can be pretty unaware of how he comes across. I liked his recent tweet giving Bruno some props, he really turned me off a couple of years ago when he seemed disrespectful of frank.