Biggest age gap wins by an older heavyweight champion vs a primed heavyweight?

Boxingfan786 · Jul 14, 2025

What are some of the large age gap fights where an older heavyweight champion beat a primed heavyweight. Dubois was green when he first faced Usyk but now he’s primed and Usyk is 38. 11 year age gap.

Fury and Joshua were both in similar age range to Usyk and Usyk was closer to mid 30s than 40 which is the case now.

Any other heavyweight scenario like this where the older guy won?

like a boss · Jul 14, 2025

Foreman was 45 when he beat 27 year old Moorer.

Moorer was an undefeated 35-0 at the time.

Boxingfan786 · Jul 14, 2025

like a boss said: ↑

Foreman- Moorer.
Click to expand...

Foreman was the challenger. I’m talking about an older champion on the aging side beating a younger guy who’s in his prime. An opponent that’s thought of highly.

like a boss · Jul 14, 2025

Boxingfan786 said: ↑

Foreman was the challenger. I’m talking about an older champion on the aging side beating a younger guy who’s in his prime.
Click to expand...

Whatever.

Badbot · Jul 14, 2025

Foreman vs Schulz - 20 year gap

Usyk vs Dubois - 11 year gap
Holyfield vs Vaughn Bean - 11 year gap
Ali vs Alfredo Evangelista - 13 year gap
Vitali had 10 years on Arreola, and 14 years on Charr.
Wladimir had 9 years on Jennings.

Serge · Jul 14, 2025

Can anyone think of a single instance of a 38.5 y/o reigning HW champion defending their belt vs a top contender, let alone a current fellow HW champion, who is way bigger and heavier than them, way younger and in the midst of their prime, who is an absolutely massive puncher, one of the hardest punchers in the division, and sports a KO 95%, in said opponent's backyard on a deck heavily stacked against them in what will be a sold out 90,000 + stadium?

You can even ignore a bunch of that just to make it a lot easier for yourselves and you're still very likely not going to be able to think of any instances of it happening despite having all of HW championship boxing history to do so

Boxingfan786 · Jul 14, 2025

Serge said: ↑

Can anyone think of a single instance of a 38.5 y/o reigning HW champion defending their belt vs a top contender, let alone a current fellow HW champion, who is way bigger and heavier than them, way younger and in the midst of their prime, who is an absolutely massive puncher, one of the hardest punchers in the division, and sports a KO 95%, in said opponent's backyard on a deck heavily stacked against them in what will be a sold out 90,000 + stadium?

You can even ignore a bunch of that just to make it a lot easier for yourselves and you're still very likely not going to be able to think of any instances of it happening despite having all of HW world title boxing history to do so
Click to expand...

Dubois is winning this.

Serge · Jul 14, 2025

Boxingfan786 said: ↑

Dubois is winning this.
Click to expand...

I have a bad feeling about it so much is against him here. If Usyk was the same version of himself as he was in the first fight, despite the heavily stacked deck and Dubois being the much bigger, heavier and younger man and being extremely powerful having amassed that 95% against men his own size or bigger not blown up CWs, I would be confident of him winning again but that version of Usyk was noticeably faster and more elusive than the version we saw in the 2 Belly fights and his combinations were fast, fluid and accurate and just his shots in general were more snappy, whereas, in the rematch against Belly they weren't as crisp and his combos were slower and he was more pushing them out.

Usyk's performance in the first Dubois fight is actually his 2nd best performance at HW for me and certainly in terms of how fast, fluid, and crisp his shots were and in particular the speed, accuracy, power and snap of that backhand down the pipe and how quick his reaction times were and how light on his feet he looked. He looked more like the prime Usyk in that one. It's clear to see if you watch those fights

Serge · Jul 14, 2025

Mods can see deleted posts

Boxingfan786 · Jul 14, 2025

Serge said: ↑

I have a bad feeling about it so much is against him here. If Usyk was the same version of himself as he was in the first fight, despite the heavily stacked deck and Dubois being the much bigger, heavier and younger man and being extremely powerful having amassed that 95% against men his own size or bigger not blown up CWs, I would be confident of him winning again but that version of Usyk was noticeably faster and more elusive than the version we saw in the 2 Belly fights and his combinations were fast, fluid and accurate and just his shots in general were more snappy, whereas, in the rematch against Belly they weren't as crisp and his combos were slower and he was more pushing them out.

Usyk's performance in the first Dubois fight is actually his 2nd best performance at HW for me and certainly in terms of how fast, fluid, and crisp his shots were and in particular the speed, accuracy, power and snap of that backhand down the pipe and how quick his reaction times were and how light on his feet he looked. He looked more like the prime Usyk in that one. It's clear to see if you watch those fights
Click to expand...

I am convinced Dubois is going to do it.

Every top fighter is willing to go to the well a certain amount of times in their career and I truly believe Daniel Dubois is in that moment in his career where he will put it all on the line and be willing to get knocked out in order to try and win. He had this mindset in the Joshua fight too. It won’t be there forever but he is in his absolute peak and has it in him right now. He’s the same age as Joshua and Fury were when they beat Klitschko.

Different things are meant for different people. It wasn’t meant for Joshua or Fury to be the ones who take Usyk down. Their greatest moments were Klitschko / Wilder. Joshua lost his natural aggression after Ruiz 1 and Fury lost his spark before he even faced Usyk the first time. He only took the fight for the Saudi money. He wasn’t desperate for it like Dubois was for the rematch.

Most people rarely call it when someone is about to do something exceptional because it isn’t the norm to be THAT good. That’s why even though people gave Dubois a chance vs Joshua most ultimately didn’t pick him. Daniel Dubois is in his prime now and his prime will have special performances. We’ve seen the Joshua one, now it’s his time to shine vs Usyk. He is going to do it.

rolzone · Jul 14, 2025

Boxingfan786 said: ↑

Dubois is winning this.
Click to expand...

Speak it, believe it, receive it! Ayahuasca style

Barrf · Jul 14, 2025

Serge said: ↑

Can anyone think of a single instance of a 38.5 y/o reigning HW champion defending their belt vs a top contender, let alone a current fellow HW champion, who is way bigger and heavier than them, way younger and in the midst of their prime, who is an absolutely massive puncher, one of the hardest punchers in the division, and sports a KO 95%, in said opponent's backyard on a deck heavily stacked against them in what will be a sold out 90,000 + stadium?

You can even ignore a bunch of that just to make it a lot easier for yourselves and you're still very likely not going to be able to think of any instances of it happening despite having all of HW championship boxing history to do so
Click to expand...

$132mil purse for Usyk. Not to take anything away from him and the absolute lion’s den he’s walking into, but $132mil will make a man ignore a whole lot of things.

Serge · Jul 14, 2025

Boxingfan786 said: ↑

I am convinced Dubois is going to do it.

Every top fighter is willing to go to the well a certain amount of times in their career and I truly believe Daniel Dubois is in that moment in his career where he will put it all on the line and be willing to get knocked out in order to try and win. He had this mindset in the Joshua fight too. It won’t be there forever but he is in his absolute peak and has it in him right now. He’s the same age as Joshua and Fury were when they beat Klitschko.

Different things are meant for different people. It wasn’t meant for Joshua or Fury to be the ones who take Usyk down. Their greatest moments were Klitschko / Wilder. Joshua lost his natural aggression after Ruiz 1 and Fury lost his spark before he even faced Usyk the first time. He only took the fight for the Saudi money. He wasn’t desperate for it like Dubois was for the rematch.

Most people rarely call it when someone is about to do something exceptional because it isn’t the norm to be THAT good. That’s why even though people gave Dubois a chance vs Joshua most ultimately didn’t pick him. Daniel Dubois is in his prime now and his prime will have special performances. We’ve seen the Joshua one, now it’s his time to shine vs Usyk. He is going to do it.
Click to expand...

I'm seeing a lot of people, especially within the trade, who have a gut feeling the stars have aligned and that the timing is right given their respective ages

Boxingfan786 · Jul 14, 2025

rolzone said: ↑

Speak it, believe it, receive it! Ayahuasca style
Click to expand...

Daniel won’t be denied. There is something in the air just like it was in the Joshua fight week. It is already written for Daniel to win, the boxing gods are with him because people mock him for how he is, against AJ they wouldn’t let him get hurt. It was Daniel in the lions den. The biblical story his dad named him after.

Barrf · Jul 14, 2025

Serge said: ↑

I have a bad feeling about it so much is against him here. If Usyk was the same version of himself as he was in the first fight, despite the heavily stacked deck and Dubois being the much bigger, heavier and younger man and being extremely powerful having amassed that 95% against men his own size or bigger not blown up CWs, I would be confident of him winning again but that version of Usyk was noticeably faster and more elusive than the version we saw in the 2 Belly fights and his combinations were fast, fluid and accurate and just his shots in general were more snappy, whereas, in the rematch against Belly they weren't as crisp and his combos were slower and he was more pushing them out.

Usyk's performance in the first Dubois fight is actually his 2nd best performance at HW for me and certainly in terms of how fast, fluid, and crisp his shots were and in particular the speed, accuracy, power and snap of that backhand down the pipe and how quick his reaction times were and how light on his feet he looked. He looked more like the prime Usyk in that one. It's clear to see if you watch those fights
Click to expand...

I’ve got a bad feeling too. Dubois is a bellend and I really want Usyk to win, but man. I won’t be surprised if something bad happens.

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