Since Usyk has no plans to fight Kabayel, should he vacate the WBC title?

It would be best for Usyk to retire at the top, why lose everything? Kabayel and Wardley are extremely dangerous fights for him. He has more skills than both, but the tenacity and power are something which Kabayel and Wardley have shouldn't be dismissed.

 

Which is ****ing laughable when you look at Kabayel's choices of opponents after Chisora... And again after Zhang.

Kabayel is one of the last fighters to be in any position whatsoever to lecture anyone over taking soft touches.

Don't get me wrong, he's up there at the moment - but that's mega hypocritical.

 

On the one hand...

It's the right thing to do to drop the belt if he's not intending to defend it.

On the other...

Usyk's very clearly the one true champ at the weight - there are too many belts anyway, who cares about having only modestly worthy secondary champs running around?


I can see it both ways - so mainly I'm not too bothered what happens, either way.

I wouldn't mind seeing Usyk fight Kabayel, but he wouldn't exactly be going into Usyk's top 3 anyway, so it's not legacy defining, it's only padding/depth - it's just a fight from amongst the best scraps of what's leftover at this point. It's better than exhibitions or a trilogy for someone who's been dominated twice already, but it's not one that'll be talked about for years and decades to come it it doesn't happen.


I'd vote for "not sure" if it was "not sure and/or don't care".

Meh.

 

These secondary champs used to be called contenders. It was the champions job to fight them

I know you have a bee in your bonet over this guy, but you may be jumping the shark a little to compare a ranked boxer in Knyba with Rico Verhoeven

 

You could be right. But I don't think there is anything wrong with a champion of Usyk's age losing a fight to the #1 contender. But delaying it to milk the belts, and then losing, yeah that isn't as good.

He is taking the money mayweather approach. He will continue to carefully navigate the contenders and choose them when he feels it is right for him

 

Sure - it's also their job to keep fighting decent opponents to maintain their legitimacy as contenders.

I don't like Usyk fighting Rico, it's a dumb choice of fight that tells us nothing important - I'd prefer him to be fighting Wardley, Parker, Kabayel, etc.

Idk, getting yourself into an interim and then making your first opponent a literal domestic level nonentity is pretty terrible...

Also, I didn't see Usyk slamming Kabayel for fighting a shite opponent - it'd be hypocritical if either of them did, but only one has.

It's not like Kabayel's defended his interim/mandatory position by fighting a credible opponent or two to have earned a mega soft touch like that (and let's make no mistake, Knyba was a much worse opponent than any of Wilder's defences and that's going some) - whilst Usyk shouldn't be doing it either, he's at least made his position undeniable first.

It annoys me doubly with Kabayel because he's got form for it, having gone on a long run of domestic level journeymen after his previous career high win against Chisora.


Call me old fashioned, but it seems mighty weird to be critical of Usyk for taking one soft touch whilst calling for a guy to be elevated to champion who's career is largely dominated by repeatedly choosing very soft touches...

 

Usyk all but vacated the WBC title when he pushed for his upcoming farce against the 1-0 guy to be a WBC title defence. Walking away from his WBC mandatory that was meant to follow only reinforces that.

Clown show. Usyk and the WBC looking equally ridiculous.

 

I like Usyk a lot but it feels he has a different plan on who to fight every month, but every boxer does and Usyk doesn't really have anything to prove.

If Wardley beats Dubois then yeah that would defo be the best fight available for sure. But surely we really don't need to see a bloody third fight between Usyk and Dubois if Dubois wins. (I think Dubois will actually beat Wardley btw)

Fury? Even Usyk knows its getting silly but can't say no to such money sadly.

Guys like Kabayel and Itauma really need to get out there more if they really want to fight Usyk

 

I don't rate Knyba nor I rate Kabayel's choice of opponent but suprised to hear that you reckon Knyba was a worse opponent than any of Wilder's title defences.

 

There's plenty of very mediocre opponents on Wilder's list of defences...
But yea, Knyba got talked up only because he was fighting Kabayel, and being undefeated (mostly through not having fought anyone remotely good) doesn't automatically make a guy a credible opponent.

Guys like Molina, Arreola, Szpilka and Duhaupas aren't really serious defences for a champion who could fight almost whoever he wants (and has far better guys queuing up wanting to fight him)... But is Knyba as proven as any of them? Would he have beaten any of them? Realistically no and probably not.

 

Would it matter though? Parker took the risk by going into Wardleys backyard because Usyk was sitting on his hands and he paid the price. The other contenders won't want to risk that, so they'll either sit still while they wait or only take on soft touches.

I was somewhat understanding of taking on Wilder as a bit of a gimmick fight against a former champ, it was something different and there'd always be that "what if" factor about it, but there's zero excuse to go outside the sport for what's essentially an exhibition match as a title defense.

If Usyk then goes on to have an awesome run against the other contenders and actually starts defending his belt ill revise my view and give him a pass. That's a big IF though.

 

Kabayel is 27-0 and his most recent run of wins reads Makhmudov (was undefeated and now about to fight Fury), Sanchez (was undefeated), Zhang and Knyba (was undefeated).

Regardless of those results, if the WBC install Kabayel as the mandatory challenger, which they have, the champion is meant to fight him when that fight falls due.

Sadly, Usyk seems intent on tarnishing what might have been by taking hand picked fights.

 

Those guys have already earned their shots.

Look, J Park tried to play the game you are describing. Parker beat Zhang after Zhang had just destroyed a legit top 4 opponent in Joe Joyce. Then he was willing to step in with Dubois and when Dubois pulled out, he fought and beat Bakole.

what did Usyk do for Parker’s willingness to fight everyone? Give Dubois, a guy he had already beaten and who had pulled out vs Parker, a second shot.

And even after he beat Dubois a second time, he was taking about a triology with Fury and Joshua and a second fight vs Chisora. Parker was the last guy he mentioned when Parker was clearly the number 1 contender.

Then Parker took on another dangerous guy in Wardley and ended up losing his shot.


Truth is even if Kabayel beat Wardley or Itauma, Usyk fans would simply move the goalposts and denand that Kabayel beat someone else to get his shot.

I have always cheered for Usyk. He is someone who I picked to beat Joshua and Fury. He is clearly the number 1 heavy of his era.

but at some point, people need to stop making excuses. Yes, he is 39 but in today’s era, with better medical technology, athletes in all sports are performing better at an older age.

Further, dude has had 24 pro fights in 12 years. That means he is well preserved as he gets ample rest in between fights. Champions in the past who were defending their titles 3 times a year or more had much more physical and mental wear and tear.

Is Usyk scared of Parker or Kabayel or Wardley? Of course not. I would pick Usyk to beat all 3


That is besides the point. He is holding up the division. He could have retired post Fury 2 and everyone would have been pleased.

let’s be honest, he has made more than enough money and he does not deserve soft touch defences because he has not consistently defended his title.

Let’s stop moving goalposts. Dude wasn’t going to fight Parker even if Parker had beaten Wardley. Not because he is scared but because he wants easy fights for more pay when he is worth 100 million plus.

he is not an old man. If he had been fighting consistently and defending consistently like Ali or Louis, he would have been worn out and past his best by now.

he looked about as good in his last fight as he has throughout his heavyweight tenure. He is not an old man because he simply hasn’t fought with the type of frequency that causes extreme wear and tear.

 

Dude, as I delineated on the other thread, he literally gave us 8-10 alternative plans last year. Calling out three random names means nothing.

Sit tight. The WBC said that Agit has to be next. He will get his shot one way or the other.

 

I can't lie, there's a part of me that would absolutely love for Usyk to announce he's fighting Parker because he didn't sit around like a ***** and fight bums waiting for Usyk to retire.

It's not going to happen, but it'd send a big **** you to guys playing the system instead of proving themselves - and as a fan of the sport I'd respect the hell out of it.

Mmmm... TBH Wilder would've been such an obvious outcome that it wouldn't have had any more what if factor than Rico - both are terrible novelty opponents at this point and neither should count as any kind of defense.

Given his age and tendency to fight yearly it's just not going to happen - he's already cleared the best out, there's some interesting fighters still knocking around but none that would go near the top of his HW resume, good padding but that's about it.

He's basically deciding when to retire and the division is stalling waiting for him to make up his mind.