Oleksandr Usyk: Greatest P4P Fighter Since.........

I know most hate Floyd and some hate manny, but these guys are ultra ATG fighters and it's no disgrace to be placed behind them

Nobody fighting right now will finish ahead of either guy in the vast majority of lists in the future.

 

Floyd and Manny

 

Manny Pacquiao and Floyd… so not that far.

We’re lucky as fans to witness fighters so great, so close together!

8 divisions…
EIGHT….

That’s not an anime or comic book character - it’s Manny Pacquiao…

 

With Cruiserweight, we have to factor in that it is a much stronger division than 30 years ago due to the huge influx of Eastern European fighters. 30 years ago, boxing was primarily an American/UK and Mexican and South American sport. There weren't that many Asians and Eastern Europeans in the sport back then.

Boxing is now more global than ever. The cruiserweight division that Usyk dominated isn't weak by any stretch. It contained fighters from UK to US to Russia.

 

Seeing the current boxing landscape makes you appreciate how lucky we were when Floyd and Pac were doing their thing.

 

Tony Soprano would never use the word y'all. Just saying.

I don't put Usyk above Floyd and Manny as he doesn't have the resume of HOF opponents that those guys do. He's number 1 or 2 Cruiser, let it go at that.

 

Not very far..................Crawford is still around and arguably ranks higher, hell let me just make a list:

Crawford
Inoue
Floyd
Manny

It can be argued all of them are/were greater than Usyk tbh. And that's just recent. 2 guys are literally his current peers. Now if we say only at HW, then he's absolutely the greatest ATG P4P since Wlad, or for those that think he's greater than Wlad you can say Lennox. Ain't no way he's greater than Lennox and history will tell this tale.

Usyk is beyond a shadow of a doubt jersey in the rafters great, but sometimes some people get a little too zealous when proclaiming things. This thread is one of those times. It's not even very hard to dispute the original post.

 

Some asterisks on the 8 divisions though really - one was Ring only (no belt) and IIRC another was Regular title? None defended, very 'smash n grab'.

Floyd also did his caclulated retirements to avoid certain fighters and always had the deck stacked in his A-side favour.

For me those things weigh heavily on P4P - Money should be heavily penalised for missing weight against JMM!

That said, it's still hard to argue against either - Pac's run around stopping Cotto and Margerito was insane, and even Thurman at 42, and Floyd schooling Canelo weigh in big on P4P scales

 

I agree with all of your points.

Ultimately though - A guy who started at just over 100 lbs beating (and completely dominating) world ranked competition around 150 is insane - even if some could argue weak era (I would disagree with this), deck stacking in negotiations, etc, + the matches you mentioned.

For Floyd, he beat a bunch of very good to great fighters while hardly losing a round, and the couple tougher fights he had, he came back and spanked whatever opp it was.

It’s easy to look back in hindsight and act like we knew these guys were gonna win all of the fights they went on to dominate during their runs - but the truth is that really wasn’t the case. These matches were often looked at as good and close match ups.

No one in the current era is really even in the stratosphere of comparing the achievements of these guys.. and I’m as big a fan of Usyk, Bud, and Inoue as the next guy!

 

Usyk doesn't have the depth of Floyd or Manny, but:

- He has a more impressive single win (Fury)
- He's never had a controversial decision

He's been as bold as Manny and as dominant as Floyd.

 

Usyk makes Canelo/Crawford look like utter bums and he ain't a puff like Floyd who hides in Vegas with his hometown ref's, judges and drug test agencies.

Usyk wasn't born of a woman. He went to all lands far and wide to seek out an opponent who could better him and he still hasn't found one...until December and that would only be losing to an equally formidable opponent.

 

Usyk is the best fighter since Manny Pacquiao and anybody who says otherwise is giving a completely shitty and worthless opinion.

 

Boxing began

 

Floyd and Manny, and that is pretty awesome.

They are all in the uber-elite, Floyd for undefeated, Manny for 8 weight classes, and Usyk for first undisputed cruiser and heavy of the four-belt era.