This generation of heavies...does it simply suck?

Both of those men had an age advantage over him

 

Muhammad Ali would be a “former cruiserweight” today this is a great era for heavyweight boxing, H2H one of the hardest to survive in its a total meat grinder - Usyk is a balanced fighter with no singular glaring weakness just a solid all rounder like Evander Holyfield, size defines you if it’s your style… little guys who fight like big men would struggle mighty today if unchanged… Ali, Liston, Holmes and Foreman etc all fought in a way that’d need a lot of tweaking for the land of the giants, Holyfield would be the same fighter, Tyson and Louis too and would have great success whilst the others… far more mixed results.

 

Both of those things can both be true. This is a shitty era for heavyweight boxing, and yet Usyk is still a very special fighter. It's not his fault. He's beaten everyone they've put in front of him. Let's be real. The foundation of Usyk's legacy is built on his cruiserweight accomplishments. His heavyweight run has just been the icing on the cake.

 

Let’s look at the heavyweights of recent years:
Bakole
Ituma
Usyk
AJ
Ruiz
Whyte
Parker
Dubois
Joyce
Wilder
Ortiz
Zhang
Kabayel
Anderson
Klitschko
Hrgovic
Hunter
Fury
Miller
Wilder

Now look at the usual “Golden Age” fighters
Wepner
Ellis
Patterson
Bonavena
Frazier
Foreman
Ali
Norton
Lyle
Shavers
Quarry
Mathis
Roman
Garcia
Foster
Bugner
Chuvalo
Young

I look at these guys and I think if I introduced the 2015s-2025s fighters into the 70s pool, there would basically only be Ali and Young surviving in the top 10 for very long… Ali also wouldn’t be a long standing champion no way… can you imagine Quarry, Patterson and Norton surviving a field that has Kabayel, DDD, Zhang, Ortiz, Wilder etc lurking?

 

Uzyk already school Joyce in WSB..... he didnt lose any 30 second segment of that fight.

 

They said the exact same thing about the 1990s, 2000s and most of the 2010s.

However opinions changed once 5-10 years had gone by, after the main fighters of those eras had retired.

 

Basically yeah agreed… near every champion S’s on the guys after them, so do the loud fans and writers of a proclaimed “golden era” they think they’re brilliant when mostly it’s a peanut gallery of know nothings, average fans dig for gold in every era and just enjoy boxing, comparison is the thief of joy…”oh he’s no Robinson” can be said of literally every 147lber after him, I still enjoy Leonard, Mayweather. Crawford and Griffith etc.

 

I wouldn't say this era sucks but it's definitely been overrated.

Joyce was considered to be the new Foreman and fell flat.

Dubois was getting hyped up but it was all smoke and mirrors he's still stiff and chinny.

Zhang big puncher but has no gas tank after 5 rounds got vastly overrated and was exposed by Kabayel.

Wilder big puncher but was exposed at top level.

Fury had potential but all in all had a thin resume and didn't achieve anywhere near what he promised he also had too many poor performances against mediocre opposition.

etc.

I think the next generation after Usyk will be interesting Kabayel, Itauma.

It doesn't take anything away from Usyk though who would be one of the best Heavyweights in any era and he is still an ATG. And he still deserves alot of credit for beating bigger Heavyweights but the likes of Dubois are simply not that good.

 

You forgot Holmes.

 

Post Fury is waayyy better than post LL imo.

 

Honestly we have no idea if it sucks or not. Fury, AJ and Usyk haven't fought most of the division our understanding of HW is based on the idea Fury and AJ were the best HWs for years. And they weren't. So we don't know anything about this era.

 

In embarrassing fashion.

And then all was forgiven and forgotten.

 

I think Fury and Usyk, as they both are right now, would beat everyone else in the division. After last night, I think Fury would knock out Dubois as well. I don't know if Fury would knock out AJ, but he'd beat him.

The weirdest -- and I can't believe I'm saying this -- wildcard is Ituama. Don't get me wrong, at his experience level, I'd HEAVILY favor Usyk or Fury over him. Like, I give Ituama maybe a 5% chance against either. But with those blazing fast hands and that power, small chance of a wild upset if he was put in there with these guys way above his level.

 

Usyk was a former Cruiserweight but after so many years at HW and 227 lbs he is a legitimate Heavyweight now. People don't realize that Usyk is bigger than Holyfield right now.

I think the current Division is about average is compared to historical era's.

 

Mark my words!!

we will look back upon this generation with a lot of fondness