Usyk has lucked much better vs much better fighters from what I've seen so why did Bellew do so well? Was it just a bad night? a bad style? Bellew underrated? Please explain your thoughts.
He didn't really do that well though did he? Looked ok whilst Uysk was feeling him out and thats pretty much it
Did he tho? Usyk looked in control to me, does what he always does has a couple of feeler rounds & then takes the opponent apart.. Bellew was zeroed in & switched on right from the off & probably expended all his mental energy just trying to stay with a Usyk in first or second gear for 2/3 rounds.. in fairness to Bellew he's a decent fighter anyway, mentally tough fighter with a B level skill set who found some late career form when he stopped killig himself at 175..
Three Usyk threads? Have you just banged him or something? To answer the question, it's definitely a mix of the three. Bellew is a bit underrated, Usyk put in a very uninspiring performance and Bellew's 1-2 was always gonna be tricky early. That said, I think Bellew's success is over played. He didn't really do much other than land the odd counter-punch clean and steal a couple early rounds while Usyk figured him out. The worst I've ever seen CW Usyk look were the early rounds vs Bellew, Hunter and Mchunu. With hindsight, we can clearly see he was figuring them out and using his superior conditioning to beat them up late. Which he did. Perfectly.
Bellew didn't do as well if you actually understand boxing and have followed Usyks career. Early on while Usyk was still gauging him he had some success - so have past Usyk opponents. I rewatched the fight on mute recently and Bellew was not doing as well as a lot of people think. By the time the middle rounds hit Usyk was in pretty much total control.
He didn't do badly,but very well is pushing imo Uysk sussed him out and then it was easy pickings from round 4 onwards
He did good but I don't think he did that well and Usyk is slow starter and Bellew has a high ring IQ and is a crafty fighter Also Since winning first world tile Usyk's had 5 different trainers in 8 fights calling the shots in the corner and I don't like that 8 world title fights, 5 different trainers and all but one of his world title fights took place in his opponent's backyards and the lone one that didn't was on neutral soil I think this is correct Glowacki and Mchunu - James Ali Bashir Michael Hunter - Russ Anber Huck and Briedis - Serhiy Vatamanyuk Gassiev - Papachenko Bellew and Witherspoon - don't know the name of this new guy he's been working with
Bellew is more experienced and more skilled than guys like Briedis, Gassiev, Mchunu, and Hunter, which is why Usyk was having a hard time with Bellew’s timing and head movement. However, being older and less active he wasn’t as durable or as well conditioned as those guys, which is why Bellew gassed as quickly as he did.
Did well? "Believe you me" Usyk had fighters and spars throughout the whole training camp that were better then Bellew for the Bellew fight! Usyk wasn't even phased by Bellew, he controlled and pressed the fight and bated Bellew to sleep.
I didn't think Bellew would have any success at all in that fight and he did win a few early rounds so in a way he did prove me wrong. I thought the fight was going to look like Loma Crolla one sided so good for him.
It was a combination of a few things. Usyk started slow and had an over confidence which we all know can cause fighters to be sloppy. Bellew was sharp but boxed completely on the back foot. He has no intention of forcing the fight. Truth be told he didn't do very much. Once Usyk settled and found his rhythm /target it became one way to traffic until the detonator landed.
It was no different than let's say Floyd-Guerrero. Usyk was feeling Bellew out the first couple of rounds. Not to mention, Bellew is a good fighter with a lot of power at Cruiserweight. I just think Usyk was being cautious and maybe Bellew surprised him a bit with his ability, but everything went according to plan. People were making such a big deal about Bellew possibly winning 3 of the 7 rounds when it was abundantly clear he was going to get sparked out sooner or later.
It's because Bellew KOing Makabu, Haye and Flores is no joke, that Bellew left hook is also no joke. You can make an argument he also dropped Adonis Stevenson. So he wanted to feel Bellew out, take zero risks, realized he had 12 rounds to work with, because God knows, there's few things in the world as embarrassing as being KO'd by Tony Bellew when you're supposed to be the second coming and a Top P4P fighter, and for what it's worth, Tony is a damn good counter puncher. Well, the play it cautious, then slowly amp up the activity and pressure late strategy paid off didn't it? With an absolutely brutal KO victory.
