It's fair to assume the majority of users here know just how awesome of a fighter Usyk is. But his resume in the amateurs and pro is also super special awesome. You have: Teymur Mammadov. Mahommedrasul Majidov. Mihai Nistor. Tervel Pulev. Matteo Modugno. Joe Joyce. Badou Jack. Shawn Porter. Artur Beterbiev. Clemente Russo. Krzysztof Glowacki. Thabiso Mchunu. Michael Hunter. Marco Huck. Mairis Briedis. Murat Gassiev. Tony Bellew. Dereck Chisora. And now Usyk will try to become the third former cruiserweight champion to become a heavyweight champion when he goes on to face AJ in Autumn. Kneel before the glory of the one and only Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Usyk! This content is protected This content is protected
A real shame that Wilder/Fury keeps us from seeing Fury/Joshua...as I am absolutely convinced that Usyk will beat Joshua by UD. However, what I am thankful for is that it's inevitable that Fury and Usyk will end up going toe-to-toe. Usyk will have a cracking fight against Fury and in turn, be incredibly competitive. The movement Usyk offers, pinpoint accuracy and the ability to take a punch will fare very well for him against Fury. Will he beat Fury, I'm not sure. On the other end, we will finally see Wilder pick up his stones and fight Joshua too.
My gut feeling is Joshua wins by KO but then I remember Parker has gone 12 rounds with Joshua and Ruiz has gone 19 without being stopped and Usyk is better than those 2. Has Usyk ever been knocked down?
I feel like I'm missing a joke, am I missing a joke? This would be the best stretch of HW boxing in 25 years, but we're going to be lucky if we get AJ Usyk, Fury Wilder, and the winners facing each other.
Apologies, I should have been clearer with my explanation. When I say it's a shame, I mean that respective to not seeing the British clash between Joshua and Fury. I don't think that ever happens now. Which I would have preferred to see over Wilder/Fury. Hell, i'd much rather see Wilder vs Usyk! And then the resulting matchups are great. The only trade-off is we won't see Fury/AJ which I was genuinely more interested in seeing than a third Fury/Wilder fight, as at this stage it is a face-saving fight for Wilder.
Usyk is a total fighter love his slick awkward style. Joshua does carry decent power and combinations when he gets inside the pocket. Problem with usyk is staying at range, he's a master at faint and move so hard to find. Still think power is going to play a big part in this one. Joshua does hit harder than chisora and he rattled usyk a few times. But then usyk definitely has the better engine and wouldn't be surprised if he gets a points win on this one. If he gets caught tho it could be a different story. I'd quite like too see Wilder Joyce at some point granite vs banger. But yh usky wilder would be a great fight
Yeah I think the same, I used to think Usyk would beat Joshua until I saw the Chisora fight, if that is Usyk at HW I think Joshua slumps him.
Although I can see what you're saying, styles make fights. And experience makes fighters... Using that same methodology, you could also argue that the Ruiz fight would lead you to believe that Usyk would crush Joshua?
Not really, I'm not using at it as a style barometer in comparing Chisora with Joshua, it's just the only real fight Usyk has had at HW and he looked poor, let's be honest, so it's all we can really go off at the moment. Let's not forget he actually held a reach advantage over Chisora, that won't be the case with Joshua, he'll have to step into range just to score, that's dangerous against Joshua as he's probably at his best fighting at mid range. If Joshua catches him and hurts him, which I think he will at some point I think Joshua will put him away, it's not like Usyk will be strong enough to keep Joshua off him if he does get clipped. That's my take.
