The "Usyk is small" myth

It must be some kind of gypsy spell on people who parrot this gibberish since it was the bald coward who came up with this nonsense. Although these "boxing fans" probably won't really like that it was Fury again who, [url]in a rare moment of honesty, said the following to talkSPORT[/url]: "Usyk's about 6ft 3ins and 16 stone. He's bigger than Muhammad Ali was back in the day. He's probably the same size as George Foreman. Everybody used to say 'big' George Foreman, now they're saying 'little tiny' Usyk at the same weight and size."

And indeed, Big George was exactly the same height and weight in his prime in the seventies as Usyk is now. Shall we start calling him Small George then, to accommodate this idiotic narrative of those who call Usyk small?

It was particularly amusing to see the weigh-in today against Dubois. Dubois, who is labelled as big, strong HW is 2 inches taller at best and only 12 lbs heavier currently than Usyk. Apparently, the difference between a "big, strong HW" and a "tiny CW" is a mere 2inches and 12 lbs.

Usyk is taller than Chisora or Ruiz and heavier than Wilder or Lerena. In fact, he always was a huge CW and talked about having problems keeping his weight under 200 lbs for that division. I remember how prior to his stepping up to the heavies his detractors labelled him as a weight bully. But now he is suddenly too small for the HW division and is only just a pumped-up CW, lol. While in reality the guy is more of a natural HW than he is a natural CW, especially now at 36.

 

And yet, he is absolutely petrified to face Usyk. Turned down what would have been a career-high payday for him in Saudi just to avoid him. For a man who likes easy paydays and who claims what an easy night's work it would be to smash the "middleweight", he keeps running from Usyk.

As for the "natural weight" thing: did you not read the OP? I literally just addressed this. Usyk struggled to keep his weight down for the CW division. He is more a natural HW than he is a natural CW. I repeat: for year, he was labelled a weight bully. Now he stepped up to HW and he is labelled "small" and not at his natural weight. Boxing fans are really something else. Ask them about pretty much anything boxing related and ten self-proclaimed experts say ten vastly different and contradictory things about the same topic. Amazing.

Also, the age thing. Usyk is only one and a half years older. Do you think that matters when Fury has been binge eating and drinking and snorting the gak for most of his adult life, while ballooned up to 400+ lbs in his late twenties only to lose most of that weight in a matter of months but still carries around some 30-40 lbs of excess fat? Usyk has been living and eating as the consummate professional while Fury has been abusing his body for well over a decade now. Nobody can seriously think that Usyk's constitution is in a worse shape than that of Fury's or that Usyk has declined more than Fury due to age. All that excess weight is damaging Fury's knees with each step he takes, quite literally. He himself said how beat-up his body was, something that even his own team member and relative, Andy Lee confirmed.

And as for the power thing - it's also an often repeated but ultimately half-cooked argument. Anyone who weighs 220 lbs can punch more than what is necessary to knock someone out. Ask Bellew who didn't exactly have a glass jaw. But in any case, punching power is grossly overrated. Ali was not a big puncher by any means, even by his own admission. He did quite alright still. Size, weight, reach are all overrated. Skills are the most important factor in boxing regardless of the division, and nobody comes close to Usyk in terms of skills in the HW division.

 

[url]The available data is not very reliable or consistent on his weight as an amateur.[/url]

For instance, it says that on 3rd February 2008, around two weeks after he turned 21, he fought at 81 kg (178.6 lbs). Then only 22 days later, on 25th February 2008, he supposedly fought at 91 kg (200.6 lbs). How on Earth does a boxer (or anyone for that matter) gain 22 lbs in 22 days? He is supposedly stayed at this weight until November of that year, when he went down to 178.6 again, only to come back again to 200.6 in some three weeks (from 15 November to 11th December).

So who knows what was going on there.

 

Ah, the good ol' "you are too invested" thing. That's my second favourite "argument" to read, right after the "I'm not reading all that" - on a forum where people communicate with each other by reading and writing.

You talked about best performance. Usyk stepped up to the heavies, he became the unified champion in only his third HW fight and defended his belts with his fourth HW bout. If that's not "best performance" I don't know what is. You make it sound like the reigning unified HW champion of the world is out of place as a HW - and when I call you out for that, I'm too invested

Brilliant, keep it coming, mate

 

Just some perspective. Usyk is not a big HW by modern standards of course. But he is not small by any means. He is the type of guy who is naturally a big CW as well as a smaller HW. His ideal weight where he can perform best is indeed between 200 and 220 lbs which is like the perfect range for being a heavy CW as well as a lighter HW in this day and age. So I guess what baffles me is why people mix up two very different things when they talk about how "small" and "tiny" he is. A smaller HW today is still not small. I frequent quite a few boxing FB pages too and it's hilarious to see how 5'8 160 lbs Average Joes label Usyk small and skinny, lol. Most people don't know what they talk about. I'm 6'1 and 190 lbs and never once in my adult life was I called or considered "small" so when a 6'3 220 lbs man is called "small" it's just absurd.