Oleksandr Usyk vs Lennox Lewis

Apologies for the late reply I'm having eye issues at the moment

That's not true at all. I don't do that. I don't even post in every Usyk thread and less so in the hypothetical match up ones between him and fighters from previous eras and when I do post in those ones I'm generally responding to haters, those who are actually biased and are being unfair and the boxing nostalgists and I just counter their arguments and make them hold the other fighters he's being pitted against to the same standard

Those are actually pretty straightforward picks albeit I'm sure many will disagree. Usyk is a bad style match up for both.

And when I say you guys I'm not singling anyone out individually I'm just responding to a general theme of people trying to discredit him and diminish his achievements. I don't consider you a hater and you're certainly more fair than the others

Firstly, people need to stop acting like this version of Usyk is in his prime Usyk and that he's immune to the ageing process. That would be a good start and his age and him being past his prime needs to be factored to threads like this just like it is with all these other fighters from previous eras.

You cite Lewis' uppercut being a very good weapon for him in this match up and Usyk having been hurt by one of Belly's uppercuts but you're pitting a past prime 37 y/o Usyk vs a prime Lewis and not factoring in Usyk's decline and the tactics he employed in both Belly fights. He literally walked Belly down in that first fight and did so for spells in the rematch and subsequently due to that game plan and his decline was easier to hit.

AJ has a very good uppercut but it wasn't a factor in either of his fights vs Usyk because Usyk was younger and closer to his prime and he was constantly moving and making it hard for AJ to pin him down and making himself a difficult target to hit and that's the game plan I believe he would employ vs Lewis and yes Lewis would absolutely struggle vs that version of Usyk

I'm well aware of all this but it has no bearing on what I said. I specifically stated Chisora was Usyk's first real fight at HW as a ''pro'' which it was. WSB fights were over 5 rounds not 12 and they wore amateur gloves. Yes, Usyk proved in the WSB that he could beat these much bigger SHWs but that was over 5 rounds, with amateur gloves, and all of those guys Usyk beat were amateurs sans one who competed in both codes

Yes he was clearly robbed. He was robbed vs Helenius, Whyte, and J-Park and he was on his way to winning vs Whyte in their rematch prior to the referee unfairly deducting a 2nd point from him which forced him to put his foot on the pedal and take more chances and make himself more vulnerable. Whyte is a dirty fighter but the ref was on Chisora's case. I don't care if any of thpse were close or not he still deserved to win them

Chisora was younger and fresher vs Haye but, as explained, he didn't take training as seriously back then and he was clearly hitting harder when he faced Usyk and he was arguably on his best run of form when he fought him and you could see his power had clearly improved which we've even seen evidence of after he fought Usyk when he dropped the teak-tough J-Park, Big Joe Joyce and Wallin who have either never been dropped, rarely go down, or have only been stopped once by the massive punching Big Bang

Chisora was 36 when he fought Usyk, which is 2 years younger than Usyk is now, and he's still going strong at 41 and after losing to Usyk has victories over Big Joe Joyce, Pulev (could've gone either way) Wallin, Washington (less impressive), and should have one over J-Park too.

He also has 2 losses since losing to Usyk but they came against the then Ring Magazine #1 ranked HW and the current #3 ranked HW, the guy many are accusing Usyk of ducking or should be fighting next, and Chisora should be 1-1 vs him

And, as I also, explained, Chisora literally trained and prepared at least 9 months to face Usyk under the tutelage and guidance of former unified CW champion Haye who not only put him on a great S&C programme but shared invaluable advice on what he needed to do to overcome a smaller, faster, elusive former CW like Usyk, and Haye specifically worked on cutting off the ring against Usyk by enlisting the services of tricky southpaws including a former opponent of Chisora's who Chisora struggled to do that against. Haye said at first Chisora really struggled to do that but that after a few weeks he made huge improvements at doing so

Do you think it would've been beneficial for Chisora had he had Usyk in his corner training and preparing him to face Haye for 9 months before he fought Haye specifically working on exactly what he needed to do to beat a smaller, faster and elusive former CW?

This is all important context and yes I know Chisora is well past his prime now.

Haye might have been in control against Chisora but it wasn't easy, it seldom is trying to keep Chisora off you, and he was starting to gas IMO

You think it's generally easier beating opponents who outweigh you by 40lbs than ones you outweigh by 30lbs? Especially relentless pressure fighter like Chisora who are much bigger, stronger and more powerful than you in your first real fight at HW as a pro? Briedis is more skilled and quicker than Chisora but obviously these HWs are way bigger than Usyk and that posses huge problems alone


Floyd lost in many people's eyes to Maidana and had two very tough fights vs him. That's the same Maidana who lost 100-90, 100-90, and 99-91 to Devon Alexander whilst wearing the perfectly legal pair of gloves Floyd refused to allow him to wear

Floyd said his toughest fight was against a guy with 16 losses who finished up with 34 losses in total by the time he retired at 36 y/o so why does Usyk get heavily criticized for having a tough fight vs a 40lb heavier Chisora in what was his first real fight at HW in the pros?

Ali was dropped heavily and almost KO'd by a 22lbs lighter Bivol sized HW

Haye was dropped heavily and almost KO'd by a much smaller SMW journeyman who was 0-4-1 in his last 5 fights, has 16 losses, and 13 KOs in 60 fights

Holyfield was dropped and almost KO'd by Bert Cooper

Lewis was one punch KO'd/TKO'd twice in the midst of his prime by fighters prime Usyk would boxed the ears off

The list is literally endless but Usyk struggling against a much bigger and heavier Chisora is some huge knock on him and his level according to many. WTF?!

Chisora >> Mavrovic

Again, Lewis who had 34 fights of experience at HW as pro was blowing out of his ass in the final round and I firmly believe there was a good chance he might have got stopped if there was another round vs a way smaller guy who he was much bigger and heavier than not way bigger and heavier than him in his first real fight at HW as a pro. And Mavrovic was knocked out inside a round twice in the amateurs. It was not an easy fight for Lewis and he was exhausted come the final round and would've lost had there been another in my opinion and even though Mavrovic was knocked out twice inside a round in the amateurs and much smaller than Lewis he couldn't put a dent in him.

 

Thanks. He's an Olympic, World Amateur, and European gold medalist, undisputed CW champion in 15 fights, undisputed HW champion in 22 fights, won and unified all his world titles in his opponent's backyards (sans one which was still on the road) on a deck stacked against him, has run through a gauntlet of huge/big punchers, including many of the hardest punchers in the sport, has sought out the best on a deck stacked against him, and has conducted himself with the utmost class in and out of the ring never once tried to weaken or cripple opponents at the negotiating table or gain any kind of unfair advantage, and he won all his fights fighting via clean boxing with zero fouling and use of dirty tactics all of which can be said about how many fighters, including the legends and GOATs?

But still people hate and refuse to believe he's as good as he is

 

Amazing the free pass Lewis gets for ducking the rematch against Vitali. The same thing has happened recently with Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall. Sure it was a bit different but people are making excuses claiming it wasn't a duck when the later is literally one of the biggest ducks of all time. Completely undeniably so

 

Yes, there would be zero ambiguity about it. It would widely be deemed a clear-cut irrefutable duck