Is Oleksandr Usyk the hero of boxing?

Yes

No A side nonsense,fights in his opponents back yard when the deck is stacked against him,isn't motivated by money,doesn't trash talk his opponents,has NEVER failed any doping tests,has never ducked anyone,a religious man who truly believes in his god,a family man who doesn't embarrass himself outside the ring by taking drugs,drinking & cheating on his wife & carries himself with integrity,dignity & respect.

If I was a young boxer starting out,Usyk is who I would have as a role model & aspire to be like

 

Absolute legend. Won all his titles on the road, the majority in the country of his opponent. Funny, respectful, likeable. Will go down as an all time great.

 

Other than the tangent about Nelson and Bakole (amusing as it was) I agree with every word of this. Don't really care for his private life but as a professional boxer winning titles the hard way without any real complaint, he's admirable.

Given our current world-title main events are basically Usyk, Fury, AJ and Dubois, as the men who (mostly) beat the other men... he's beaten them all.

 

Is he ****, took drugs in the corner, round 7. Why he didn't really celebrate winning.

 

One of the two best that I have had the pleasure to watch over the past 15 years along with Inoue.

Cleaned out a very difficult cruiserweight division then rinse and repeat at heavyweight.

The Hall of Fame will be calling soon and one of the all time greats will be taking his well deserved place.

Compare his CV to Joshua and Fury, apply context prior to each fight and he simply is the real deal.

 

It’s a tangent to bring up Bakole in a thread about Usyk. If you think Bakole beats him then that’s fair enough but doesn’t really alter Usyk being a hero of boxing!

 

The biggest opponent to Usyk is age and he has not much time left.

I would like to see him retire after the Fury fight, should he win, with a CV even @Mitch87 would struggle to pick any holes in.

Warrior, legend, winner.

 

My thoughts exactly.
He should bow out a champion rather than age and let a lesser man boast of being better

 

Yeah, he's cleared up hasn't he? As an amateur and professional. Mainly as the away fighter. Best of this generation certainly.

 

Yes! A true champion in every sense of the word.

 

I have no problem with it, just found the notion that a thread celebrating Usyk (not pitting him against others, purely about his own achievements and career) should mention a fringe contender at best like Bakole, a bit random. Each to their own and no beef!

For what it's worth I think a big unit like Bakole might actually give Usyk some bother until he maybe runs out of gas but it would be entertaining too. Boxing should be able to accommodate more fights like that - look at some of the fringe boxers Ali gave a fight to back in the day? Bakole is pretty hard done by and I don't really understand why, so hopefully he gets a bit of a push through the recent uptick in boxing promotions.