Usyk, Kabayel, Wardley and Itauma are overrated and Hrgovic is underrated - long analysis

I don't "hate" on anyone I mentioned as "overrated", I think they're all very good fighters, prepared for the fights well, and gave their best, respect for that. But I also think they are considered better than they actually are and were extremely lucky with things like matchup style of opponents, injuries, fighting opponents past their prime, and questionable stoppages (Wardley I'm looking at you).

Usyk

Beat only 4 fighters in the heavyweight division, none of whom were at their best when fighting him. Fights on average once a year. Compare these numbers to the likes of Lennox, or the Klitschko brothers.

Chisora was actually winning early rounds vs Usyk and only lost later due to being gassed. Prime Chisora was vs Vitali at 109, vs Usyk 116kg. Prime Chisora would definitely take more rounds from Usyk, but would it be enough to get a victory? I'm not sure and we'll never know. But here we already saw Usyk's weaknesses.

Dubois was not on level of prime Fury and Joshua (both were past prime against Usyk). Hrgovic at the time was IBF mandatory and it should have been his turn to fight Usyk, but as anybody informed knows, boxing is a business first, sport second, so of course a British fighter from Warren's Queensberry got the title fight.

Joshua wasn't the same after Ruiz, lost his balls and got pulled by the nose and outtapped by Usyk for 12 rounds. Twice.

Fury let his ego get the best of him so instead of taking Usyk seriously as any top 10 opponent deserves to be taken, and especially a champion like Usyk, he clowned around, and deserved his loss. Still, it was a close fight, and Fury was winning the middle rounds. But this was not prime Fury. Look at Fury vs Klitschko, then look at Fury vs Usyk. Vs Klitschko he was faster, lighter, better stamina and mentally focused instead of clowning around. IMO it would be close but the Klitschko version of Fury would beat Usyk on points. The second fight vs Usyk Fury falsely determined his prime was in 2nd/3rd Wilder fight and attempted to emulate that and put on weight, which only ended up hindering him.

None of the only 4 fighters Usyk faced were at their best when he faced them, and he barely eeked out a win against both Fury and Joshua by a few punches/rounds. They were legit wins, but not dominant.

Kabayel

Smakici - Smakici claims he wasn't allowed to warm up properly, at the start he almost KO'd Kabayel but then gassed out.

Makmudov - ideal opponent for Kabayel stylistically. Slow, no defense. Lost to some Italian, barely eeked out a win against Dave Allen.

Sanchez - had a knee injury.

Zhang - came fat with 0 cardio. Still knocked Kabayel on his ass once. If he was in shape he could have finished the job, same as with Parker. He had big potential but he was fat and lazy.

Knyba - barely top 50 looking skinny fat outboxed Kabayel until a very questionable stoppage. To those who don't know, it was an event in Germany and the entire evening the refereeing in boxing was marked by extreme pro German bias that people in comments noticed.

He also fought Chisora and that fight literally could have gone either way, was way too close.

I respect Kabayel, he is the real liver king, not that roided up clown. Exceptional cardio, punch output, and the balls to go forward against any opponent. But the circumstances of his opponents diminish his wins.

Wardley

Huni wasn't counted to 10 properly so that Wardley gets the win. Maybe Wardley would finish him, maybe not. The problem is we'll never know. It was a robbery.

Adeleye stoppage was also a robbery, but at least unlike Huni Adeleye was LOSING on points, not winning. Almost certainly Wardley would win but again, the problem is it was unjustly stopped so we can never know.

Clarke also got robbed the first time around, it was a close fight but he won more rounds. Then he came slow and fat the second time around and rightfully got knocked out.

Parker is very confused lately, thinks he's a bodybuilder instead of a boxer. Came big and slow, still outboxed Wardley inspite of it, until YET ANOTHER extremely questionable stoppage.

Seeing a pattern here? 3 out of 4 of Wardley's most relevant wins are premature stoppages. Frank Warren's Queensberry at work?

Fury would have been knocked out in the first Wilder fight and the first Usyk fight going by stoppage standards that have been applied in Wardley's fights.

Itauma

Dillian Whyte - came with an obvious leg injury, practically limped to the ring. Came only to take the money, you could see it in his eyes.

McKean - severely braindamaged from his fight vs Hrgovic.

Mariusz Wach - bro was 44y and 130kg and was nowhere near the top 10 anyway

Itauma is a massive talent and a powerful puncher, but we haven't really seen him tested by a proper fighter, so can't say much about him either way. Time will tell.

Hrgovic

Beat Parker in amateurs

Was robbed against Joyce in amateurs (Joyce threw more but landed less) but it was admittedly close, more close than the professional fight they had where Hrgovic won.

Was also robbed against Tony Yoka in olympics. That wasn't as close and even the commentators who usually side against Hrgovic were surprised he didn't get the win. Still got the bronze medal, but it should have been silver or gold.

Dubois is his only loss, and IMO it isn't a real, legitimate loss as he lost due to many unfavorable circumstances, including poor refereeing. Firstly, Hrgovic was sick before the fight and didn't get to finish the camp, so his cardio and power were diminished from lack of training + sickness.

Second, Dubois opened 2 cuts, one legitimately with a punch, the other with a headbutt, and kept headbutting the entire time to open them further, and the judge of course did nothing because Dubois is Warren's Brit and Hrgovic is from a country half the population of London.

Third, Dubois somehow went from 105.8 kg in the Usyk fight to 111.5 kg in less than 10 months without visibly gaining almost any fat, and without diminishing his speed and stamina. That's an almost certain indicator of... very advanced supplementation . He went even higher in weight against Joshua also without visibly getting fat, then somehow dropped in weight and looked fat and deflated his second fight against Usyk, as if he was on an off cycle of his very advanced supplementation. Either way, Dubois' weight and performances vs Hrgovic and Joshua were above his usual standard.

And despite all that Hrgovic STILL lasted longer than Joshua, and unlike Joshua was winning rounds and was ahead on points at the time of the stoppage. The stoppage in favor of Dubois was poor refereeing, if a fighter opens a cut with a headbutt and keeps headbutting and you stop the fight due to cuts, it's either the headbutter gets DQd if it's deemed intentional, or an NC or a technical decision if accidental.

There were too many headbutts to say they were accidental, here's the link to the full fight on Warren's official Queensberry channel:

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Look at the fight and the comments. It's obvious. Dubois is dirty, we know it from first Usyk fight too.

Hrg most notable (over other top 10 heavyweights) wins are Joyce (who beat Dubois and Parker) and Zhang. Some people say Zhang got robbed, these people either watched somebody's biased highlights comp instead of the full fight, or don't know how fights are scored.

Also look at Hrgovic Molina and some other big names who beat Molina and see who did it best.

Hrgovic is accused of being "pillow-fisted" and I'd agree he's not among the strongest punchers (to me that would be Zhang, Joshua, Wardley, Itauma), he has decent power and knockout ratio (14 out of 19).

Funny how this accusation of being "pillow fisted" isn't leveled at Usyk, when Usyk barely KO'd people in cruiserweight, much less in heavyweight where he only KO'd 1 out of 4 fighters. Just pointing out the double standard.

This is Fury's opinion on Hrgovic:

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Wladimir Klitschko also sparred with Hrgovic and said he thinks he will become a champion.

Hrgovic had overtraining problems with previous trainer, now he's with Abel Sanchez and claims it's better. Even on short notice (meaning no full camp) he outlanded Joyce (Joyce did throw more), and he showed good form vs Adeleye.

IMO Hrgovic would be a favorite against any current top boxer, and I'll explain why.

Wardley is technically too bad to keep up with Hrgovic, he was losing to both Parker and Huni, his only chance would be to KO Hrg, which is possible but unlikely, or to cut him and get a stoppage on that. Against Joyce and Adeleye Hrgovic proved he could fight through a cut. Most likely outcome if the fight is fair and there is no robbery/premature stoppage, Hrgovic on points.

Kabayel has a better chance than Wardley, his liver specialty is extremely effective and underused in boxing, however Hrgovic is technically better than Kabayel and has a decent reach advantage. Both have great stamina and punch output. Most likely outcome, Hrgovic either on points or late KO or TKO.

Usyk vs Hrgovic I'd like to see more than any other because I consider them currently the top 2. Usyk has a moderate speed advantage and minor technique advantage, but is at a reach disadvantage and less able (or at the very least less willing) to take punches to win a round, as demonstrated against Chisora and Fury 1st fight. Hrgovic has balls like Chisora, and better stamina, reach and technique than Chisora.