Usyk would clear every heavyweight division before him

I don't put Mike on a pedestal. All Holyfield had to do was grab and tie him up. Usyk could have followed the same game plan. Usyk isn't on the same physical level as Tyson but his ring IQ is higher.

H2H
1.Muhammad Ali
2.Joe Louis
3.Larry Holmes
4.Lennox Lewis
5.Wladimir Klitschko
6.Evander Holyfield
7.Oleksandr Usyk
8.Vitali Klitschko
9.Mike Tyson
10.Anthony Joshua
11.Tyson Fury
12.Riddick Bowe
13.George Foreman
14.Tim Witherspoon

 

It’s not about putting him on a pedestal.

Mike is hugely overrated by many.

No.

It’s just a simple clash of styles.


Evander isn’t relevant.

1. Mike was just a head hunter against Evander in the mid 90’s.

2. Usyk doesn’t possess Evander’s strengths and in-fighting techniques.


Usyk has no great jab.

No great power.

No great, inside fighting skills.

He’s shown vulnerabilities to the body, both as an amateur and as a pro.


You had to beat Mike down in order to get him off of you.

Usyk simply hasn’t got the attributes needed in order to have kept Mike off of him.

Mike would have suffocated him on the inside.


A very easy prediction for me.

 

I definitely agree with you on this, good post!!

 

Usyk is the best of his time which is all he can be. There have been great fighters before him and there will be after him. If you put all of those fighters in their prime in the same division, they will all beat each other.

 

100%

 

I think his similars are hard stopping points.

Holyfield
Spinks
Charles
Marciano
Patterson
Dempsey
Frazier
Fitzsimmons

Not sayings he beats or loses to them just they'd be hard fights for him.


Of them, the single hardest I think would be Charles.

Can he beat them? Who knows, Marciano doesn't accept defeat and deals in bone crushing energy without hyperbole. Dempsey is a master of balance and catching people off of it. They all have good reasons to be hard fights for Oleks but IMO Charles is the hardest.

 

Some good match ups there for him.

But I still think that Tyson would have been his most difficult stylistic challenge.

 

Ah the weekly 'Usyk beats everyone in history' thread. Awesome.

 

For MOST opponents, a good version of Tyson is a nightmare. But Holyfield was just his foil. The Ken Norton to his Muhammad Ali. Tyson and Holyfield could have fought 10 times, and sure, Tyson would have won some, but NONE of them would have been an easy fight for him. Every single fight would have been real rough for him.

Holyfield was just kind of tailor made to be sent in against Tyson.

 

I agree.

I was just noting that Mike was a lesser fighter when they fought.


But they looked great at different times.

Evander could actually have come unstuck had they have fought in 1991.

 

So, by your logic, Leon Spinks was the best HW until Usky because Spinks got the belt in 9 fights. LOL

 

While he’s beaten some top HW guys (per contextual rating), has Usyk actually cleaned out the HW division in his own era?

Literally cleaning out a division doesn’t call in hypothetical H2Hs with a fantasy based, complete physical refresh after each and every fight.

There’s actual wear/tear along the way to be considered, incurred not just against the great, but also against the good and the bad in all potential.

Before debating comparative quality of opposition, Sonny Liston literally cleaned out the HW division before absolutely crushing the guy at the top, not just once, but twice.

There are a few HWs out there, yet to be faced, that could be reasoned to give Usyk some problems and significant wear/tear and damage.

Olek is a great fighter but some of the hypothetical projections I’ve read are a lil bit too heady for mine.

 

Usyk has actually cleaned out the heavyweight division. Who is left?

Parker if he beats dubois (I favor parker)
And winner of zhang vs kabayal (I favor zhang). I am pretty sure usyk will fight both. Usyk is great against every style and every size historically and he really proved it in comparison to other greats in history.
I personally think that usyks toughest challenger would be someone who is faster than him with great mobility and power (prime Mike tyson) and someone with an atg jab, size and power (prime wlad and prime lewis). But usyk knows how to win.
Everyone else including Ali and Holmes would imo lose to usyk, because usyk is imo just better and also more accustomed to fight every style there is

 

Wlad, Lewis and Holmes would be problems. Ali would be a problem due to his speed/mobility. Not saying he can't beat them but I am saying that assuming he 'clears out' previous divisions with ease is making some big assumptions.