Reality Check Time! Oleksandr Usyk is Still The P4P Number One Fighter On The Planet. This Is Why...

Henry Armstrong went from Featherweight to Middleweight which is more impressive. Pacquiao went from Flyweight to Light Middleweight which is actually a far more impressive jump in weight.

Respect to Crawford's weight class jumping. But Canelo was never a career SMW. I would be far more impressed if Crawford beat Ward or Froch at SMW. Being that they are full blown career 168s.

 

One has to also note that the advent of Turki and his moneybags really affects the context here IMO.

I'm guessing nobody has tried it in the past I think due to many contextual factors
+ Money not being there
+ Risk / reward, and 168's historically low-value perception (stepping stone to 175 etc etc Super 6 did a lot to change this)
+ Calzaghe / Ottke dilemma for a long time, fragmented belts, no undisputed cherry to pick in 1 fight.
+ Politics etc

I still give Crawford a LOT of credit for his win (I picked Canelo on points), but contextually it has a LOT of all the stars aligned for Bud IMO

 

Henry Armstrong held titles in three divisions at the same time - the real divisions, not the watered-down modern divisions.

He was a real ATG, arguably the best ever - no careful matchmaking, no cherry-picking, always fought the best.

He is the only fighter to ever hold world championships in three divisions (featherweight, lightweight and welterweight) simultaneously. He started at bantamweight, and also fought and beat middleweights although he was much smaller than Terence Crawford.

And let's not forget Roberto Duran started at bantamweight and won a world title against a MUCH bigger man at middleweight.

Crawford looked slightly bigger than Canelo, who had his first fight at super lightweight. When he saw Skull-Canelo, he thought "I can beat this guy, he's faded and slow-footed now, I just need to run and tire him out".

Usyk was much smaller than Joshua and especially Fury, who had an enormous reach advantage. It takes more of a special skill to overcome that kind of size difference.

 

Great points CST. The problem is that people are propping up Bud due to being a 'former lightweight champion' etc after this win. That belies the fact that Crawford has never been 135lbs in the ring. The lowest listed in-ring weight I can remember of him is 153lbs! Against Madrimov he was above the SMW limit! Bud is an elite fighter but he has never fought someone who outweighed him or out reached him in the ring, whereas Usyk and Inoue are beating top tier opponents their size and bigger with little slip up. Meanwhile Crawford is a weight bully among weight bullies, and Canelo is the first guy he's fought that's the same size as him. Some of his weight cuts are so ridiculous that I personally suspect Conte 'helped' them. For my money:

1. Usyk
2. Inoue
3. Crawford

 

Pound for pound is subjective and there is rationale behind putting a 5 weight world champion as the p4p king.

With that said, I agree with you Usyks still on top, and I’ve got it:
1. Usyk
2. Bud
3. Inoue.

Fury is the best form of the best fighter any of them have beat (+ weight advantage), and Usyk has also beat the most consistently good fighters out of them IMO as well.

If Inoue wasnt around to beat them, no one would talk about any of his opponents thus far except for aged but good Donaire 1… They’re good fighters, but none exceptional. Similar to Canelos 168 reign.

Bud’s in a similar boat, although I feel Canelo and Spence were exceptional opponents, they were clearly not in great form on the night.

Realistically there’s a reasonable argument to put Bivol somewhere in the top 3.

 

Who has been 135lbs in the ring? Which lightweight? The answer is noone, you'd have to go back to same day weigh ins. Even Lomachenko who was a small lightweight easily above 140.

Crawford was a lightweight as an amateur. He was making 132lbs at the age 20 WITH SAME DAY WEIGH INS. So yes, he is by all accounts a former lightweight and a lightweight champion. To put it in contrast, Canelo who's supposed to be same size as Crawford (which is BS of the highest order) was a jr MW at the same age.

 

Henry Armstrong was feather, light and welter champ ALL AT THE SAME TIME which IMO poops on Buds 4 weight wins that includes the mini-modern "light" belts.

Usyk
Bud
Inoue

 

Agreed. I also like the mention of Bivols resume getting its flowers. Its about time Bivol starts getting a mention in the debate for the Top 3. Whether people think he is or not, hes most certainly got a case that needs to be considered when discussing the order of Inoue Usyk and Bud. The Ramirez victory aged brilliantly with his Cruiserweight stint. Arguabley could have had 2 wins over Artur and still remain undefeated. Then of course, the man who derailed all the Canelo vs Usyk talk with a one sided cheek clapping over 12 rounds. Thats without mentioning his other decent level victories.

 

As a reality check we can see how usyk cures his injuries , the injuries due to which he requested and was granted an extension by wbo .

https://talksport.com/boxing/3559251/oleksandr-usyk-football-match-injury-next-fight-joseph-parker/

 

B level Canelo but A level AJ, alright buddy.

 

Nah doe bruh

 

Bud is #1 untill Usyk fights & wins again
Simple as that. Deal with it.

 

Resume isn't fiction and someone like Naoya has a far deeper resume than Usyk in terms of top contenders beaten

Many recent examples of guys winning at heavyweight despite giving up lots of size. Ruiz vs Joshua, Hunter vs Bakole, Kabayel vs Zhang etc

 

Canelo is better than anyone usyk beat and he went up 2 weights at 37 to do it end thread.