Better fighter: Usyk or Calzaghe

Calzaghe, he had it all finished undeafeated, when Usyk retires we can revaluate , bit premature right now with Fury / Wilder looming... believe it or not I think Wilder might turn out be the Usyk banana skin...

 

Outside of his undefeated run Calzaghe doesnt have that much on him
Usyk has a great amateur run,greatest cruiser all time,very good heavyweight

 

I get your point but Joe being trained by his Dad who learnt from bloody boxing manual , imo, makes Joes story even better ! As has been said , both of guys were/are cream of the crop....fantastic boxers, great guys...

 

Roght on,no doubt the Calzaghe s had a great story.
But objectively speaking I cant see Usyk under him

 

Usyk pi**es this ! Calzaghe won all his belts at home in Britain and defended them twice in Europe (McIntyre/Veit) beating Eubank for his first World title in his 23rd fight and had 22 World title fights in his 46 fights . Usyk won all his titles on the road and won his first World title in his 10th fight beating the unbeaten Glowacki and so far has had 9 World title fights in his 20 fights. Usyk has achieved more in less than half the fights of Calzaghe as well as being a two weight World Champion and only one potential fight off being Undisputed in two weight divisions.

 

I do admit that Hopkins' physical prime didn't coincide with his peak ring-IQ, if he had all the amateur experience and good training since he was a kid like, say, Roy Jones did, then he would have been even better early in his career imo. As it stands, Bernard showed his character by knocking out Mercado in the return bout, that's what great fighters do.

And yes it's true that he got better after he fought Mercado, but if you think the 42 year old, lower-output, economical old man who would cry foul or do anything he could to catch a breather, was anywhere near the guy that was destroyed Trinidad, then I don't know what to say. He had clearly slipped a degree or two in my view. If Hopkins had been prime, he'd have beaten Joe much more convincingly

 

In general HW's are not as skilful as lower weights, obviously there are exceptions ,Ali, Usyk Lewis etc. So long as you can move & manoeuvre...imagine Usyk having to use his footwork against a Stiverne for a points win, wouldn't break sweat...

 

I have to give it to Usyk simply because of what he's achieved in so few fights. although make no mistake both are the elite in their respective weight divisions for skill and ability to adapt with just ATG attribute's. Both have great determination. skill. speed. shot variety and gas tanks with the ring IQ and skill to adapt mid fight. Usyk has more to prove at heavy however if he can beat Fury he's clearly the best of this generation.

 

Satchel Paige was in his prime at 50

 

solid post

 

Fully agree mate context means everything. It's understanding what the few have achieved in so few fights. So the likes of Usyk and Loma are special as most elite fighters I can think of were still fighting bums at the same point in the career. Yet these guys were fighting top guys nearly straight away yes they're older starting far later like GGG. Regardless they are great fighters for me with excellent schooling and pedigree.

 

Comparing the safety-first, cherry-picking, travel-refusing, glass-jawed, HBO-protected Roy Jones to Usyk is like comparing a wart to the Matterhorn.