- Because Usyk is overrated - Because Bellew is underrated - Because Usyk was playing chess - Because Bellew was fighting at his highest level
Bellew was at 110% capacity and it was inevitable that his engine would blow the moment Usyk started going up in gears. The mental and physical pressure remains high when fighting a superior technical boxer. it's hard to get a break. It's actually a mistake Fury has been making till his recent adjustments is giving his opponent too much room to breathe. Usyk and Loma do the same thing. The pressure eventually makes their opponents falter mid/late.
Agreed, and I think the Papachenko trained version of Usyk was near perfection. Gassiev had no chance that night.
Bellew did alright - but he was ground down and lost. Better than expected? Probably not - Bellew was a good fighter so it was never going to be easy for Usyk.
Usyk did something that only true elite boxers do, which is take a few rounds to analyse and study his opponent before pushing on. Mayweather did it all the time - he would often be 2-2 or 3-1 down after 4 then win the rest of the rounds easily. No one knew how Bellew would approach that contest, whether he'd go guns blazing and try and bully him or box and move. Usyk figured out his strategy then beat him up before taking him out.
Bellew had clearly done his homework and had Usyk well timed for the first five rounds, was able to make Usyk miss with good head movement and footwork and land some decent counters though he was very focused and still only land one or one-two counters. Seemed like he put all his effort into it mentally and physically as he was shattered by round 5 and Usyk was starting to got through the gears and break him down.
Bellew did do well tbf. Think the judges had it around even when it got stopped. But i still reckon the most important part of usyks whole game plan from the off is....he wants to get the opponent working harder than they want to be working. More so than even winning the rounds. Although bellew got success...it was still working towards usyks end goal. He got bellew working hard using less energy himself. By the time he stopped bellew....bellew had nothing left. Pretty sure he said himself his gran would have knocked him out at that point. Reckon thats the most important thing for usyk...not is he winning the fight...the question their asking is is your opponent working harder than he wants to be. They know they,ll get them in the end. He constantly tries to draw punches from his opponent....if some hit him...he can live with that...as long as their working harder than they want to be...hes very good at that.
Usyk always starts slow and lets fighters get the better of him while he's figuring them out. The true gauge of how well a fighter does against Usyk is measured in the later rounds, which Bellew never made it to.
That's one fight at CW I'd wish we'd seen. Usyk vs. Authentic D would have been a great matchup. Unfortunately at best we'll only see Usyk vs. Bootleg D down the line.
Based on what? Dorticos has a good reach and good handspeed when he actually puts his punches together, but his punching power isn’t anything special. He isn’t featherfisted, but I haven’t seen anything that makes him a huge puncher.
I don’t think we missed anything, since Dorticos doesn’t have the timing to be a threat to Usyk and his lack of footwork or head movement would make him target practice for Usyk.
Usyk went all-in. Looking for glory and money, moving up to HW, with Matchroom. Usyk's journey continues to step further, a bout against Chisora but focused on the mission, a win against the golden goose, Usyk obviously doesn't respect AJ as the true ruler over all divisions, and is willing to prove it to himself. Usyk's move up to HW needs to be respected. we don't see Dorticos, or others moving up to HW. Taking on Chisora is a bad move for Usyk, i believe. There is no to little gain in claiming Chisora's scalp, Usyk can get "that" kind of work in sparring easily. To take AJ on, Usyk needs to be switched on, he needs fights were he gets switched on, DDD will get Usyk switched on. Usyk will force the WBO mandatory bout, if Fury takes AJ's scalp before Usyk get's the chance to fight AJ, Usyk will need to KO Fury for those belts, Usyk will not win a decision. AJ could be relinquishing the WBO belt.