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

But how many HW champions in the history of the sport have been cleaning out all the top contenders at 39 y/o, let alone after clocking boxing and cleaning out 2 divisions of all their champs and highest rated contenders and almost exclusively B2B tough touches?

26-0 Glowacki in Poland (World champ)
17-2 Mchunu in neutral US (was robbed of being a champ)
12-0 Hunter in the US (easily good enough to become a champ)
40-4-1 Huck in Germany (former long reigning champ
23-0 Briedis in Latvia (World champ, future champ)
26-0-0 Gassiev in Russia (unified World champ)
30-2-1 Bellew in England (former champ, undefeated at CW)

38-3-0 Witherspoon in the US (very late notice sub, only soft touch of Usyk's career and even then he was a big puncher, 27lbs heavier than Usyk and was 8-0-0 (7KOs) in his last 8 albeit admittedly at the lower level and it was Usyk's official pro HW debut so he would've been an acceptable enough opponent even if he had a whole camp

32-9-0 Chisora in England
24-1 AJ in England (reigning three-belt unified champ, 2 x unified) and ranked #1 at HW by The Ring
24-2-0 AJ in Saudi (ranked #2 by The Ring)
19-1 Dubois in England (mandatory, WBA interim champ, future champ)
34-0-1 in Saudi (former three-belt unified champ, reigning WBC champ and ranked #1 by The Ring
34-1-1 Belly in Saudi ranked #1 by The Ring)
22-2-0 Dubois in England (reigning IBF champ)

So everyone he fought in all his world title fights at HW was ranked #1 or #2 when he fought them sans Dubois who was the WBA interim champ and his mando and he was already four months shy of turning 35 when he won his first HW world title(s)

Wlad from the same age defended his titles vs the likes Pianeta, Leapai, Mormeck, Wach, Thompson, Jennings in between tough touches Povetkin, Haye and Pulev. How many of those guys were ranked #1 or #2 by The Ring at the time?


Vitali was 37 when he came back and he defended his title against the likes of Sosnowski, shot Briggs, Solis, Kevin Johnson, Gomez, Arreola, Adamek, Chisora and Charr. How many of those were ranked #1 or #2 by The Ring

I see lots of soft touches on both Wlad and Vitali's CV's from 35 onward and those 2 are the #2 and #3 oldest HW champs ever respectively and obviously both are natural career HW giants with extremely high KO% who were fighting guys their size, smaller or way smaller not way bigger and murderous puncher young lions way bigger than them

You feel me?

 

Yes but they also had way way shorter amateur careers, dmt, and 39 y/o is 39 y/o no matter what and the fact that only 2 fighters in HW history have won a world HW title fight older than Usyk is now and 1 retired for a decade and the other for 4 years confirms that. How is a 39 y/o who relies on speed, reflexes, reaction times, agility and movement supposed to be in their prime? He might have less pro fights but Father Time waits for no man

Lewis had 44 fights as a pro and boxed 235 rounds

Usyk 24 fights but 206 rounds

Lewis had either 82, 94, or 105 amateur fights depending on which figure is correct

Usyk had 350

But whatever the correct figure is Usyk has boxed way more rounds than Lewis who obviously a giant and a huge puncher and ended lots of his fights early

No one is cleaning out divisions at 39 + vs fighters way bigger than them and the #1 and #2 guys and murderous punchers much or way bigger than them B2B, let alone slick boxers who rely on speed, agility, movement, reaction times and reflexes and but Usyk is the only one who is supposed to do so and never have any soft touches

So many are just desperate to see Usyk lose

 

And like I keep saying, Usyk said he would never fight Belly again and changed his mind often

He's fighting Rico. Yeah, I get it people aren't happy he's having his first soft touch of his career since moving up to the world level sans Witherspoon

But they weren't happy he didn't fight Fabio who he has now said he will fight after Rico if they both win but people are still complaining

Assuming he does want a huge money trilogy fight vs Belly for his final fight, the landscape can change in the blink of an eye. What if Belly gets chinned by the massive punching Mak? Many lesser punchers have dropped a prime Belly

And everyone knows the fight they're most desperate to make is Belly vs AJ and this year, Belly losing to Usyk a third time isn't going to help that so there's a good chance that will happen instead

Belly could fight Kabayel after Mak or the winner of Fabio vs Dubois. Who knows what's going to happen?

Usyk could fight Kabayel after Rico so if he fought Rico, Fabio and Kabayel for his last 3 fights but people would still find something to criticize him for

 

I'm not directing that wanting to see Usyk lose comment at you, dmt

It causes a ton of wear and tear. They aren't just training year round and fighting the best fighters in their city, country, region, continent, or in the world they're sparring all the time too.

Usyk trains like a maniac

Many elite amateurs with extremely extensive amateur careers left their best form and years in the amateur ranks and burned out quicky in the pros.

The only fighter to allegedly ever drop Usyk with a headshot Korobov is one such example. He was an amazing amateur and one of the best I've ever seen but his body was falling to pieces in his mid 30s. He lost his last 2 fights (both of which he was winning easily albeit one had only gone a round but he was lighting his opponent up with ease for the short time it lasted) on 2 separate injuries after 2 and 4 rounds respectively. His body broke down on him in B2B fights and he never fought again. 312 amateur fights much of that spent fighting at the elite level and he retired at 37

Maybe they could of but the fact is no one doing what Usyk is or is expected to at this age vs #1 and #2 contenders and way bigger younger and big or murderous punchers in their backyards

We will get a new one soon but, as said, we have no idea what the landscape is going to look like in a few months, let alone further than that and Usyk may well fight Kabayel next or Fabio then Kabayel or maybe neither if both lose

 

Criticized for fighting Brits

Criticized for not fighting Fabio

Vacated his belt and was criticized for not fighting Fabio but now he says he's going to fight the winner of Fabio vs Dubois he's criticized for it

Said he will never fight Belly again

Now say the trilogy vs Belly will be the final fight of his career

Except Belly has to get past Mak first and word on the street is Belly vs AJ is signed so he has to get through AJ after that too in order for that to happen

Fabio vs Dubois is a 50-50 fight and one which can end in the blink of an eye and early too

Belly vs AJ is a 50-50 fight

Belly vs Mak might seem like a routine win for Belly but Mak is a massive puncher and Belly is 37 now and won't have fought in 16 months by the time they fight in the ring and if Ngannou can drop and almost beat an overconfident underprepared 35 y/o Belly and many other lesser punchers have dropped and hurt him it's not a forgone conclusion for Belly who has been guilty of fighting down to the level of his opposition numerous times.

Who knows what will happen with Kabayel in his next fight? He could potentially lose or Usyk may decide to fight him after Rico before the the WBC strip him

Usyk changes his mind often, trolls sometimes, and the landscape can completely change often too so I'm not taking anything as gospel until any of these fights are officially announced

Maybe Usyk is just looking for the biggest money fights out there now for the last few remaining fights of his career during his exit strategy after a career of exemplary conduct facing the best and nothing but tough touches almost exclusively B2B and treading a path few others have or would, including so many of his fellow greats, some of who refused to ever do once what he did religiously, and maybe he will fight Fabio and Kabayel after Rico providing he and they all win their next fights

I'm going to wait to see what happens before I judge someone for doing something they haven't actually done yet


Look at the disrespect Usyk's countryman and long time friend Loma is and was subjected to? Like Usyk he was a pure legacy fighter model pro who sought out and fought the best, many times on a deck stacked against him, and was very often the smaller, much or way smaller man fighting in a division which he was tiny for vs much or way bigger fighters, a division which would've been his 7th-9th one had he turned pro at the same age and he didn't move up in weight because he was a massive weight bully like so many of these multi-weight champs, especially North American ones, he did so because he dared to be great.

And like Usyk he achieved everything he did the hard and honourable way in his opponent's backyards or on the road, with zero deck-stacking, cheating, trying to cripple or weaken opponents at the negotiating table and won his fights via the application of pure skill, technical wizardry, and clean boxing.

He never put a foot wrong and he fought the best and took nothing but tough challenges throughout his career, from from the get-go with only a few softer touches at 126 after beating GRJ and they were still decent fighters and when he moved up to 135 he fought nothing but world champions, former world champions and top contenders B2B to B2B even after losing or suffering very serious injuries and having undergone surgery he did so in his first fight back months later when 99% of other fighters take softer touches and they were all much or way bigger than him.

He fought 7 world champs at 135 alone, again all much or way bigger than him, and 2 of the other guys he fought were either robbed of becoming world champions or lost by a hair in world title fights both vs excellent fighters/multi-weight champs.

But he gets zero respect from so many for doing it the way he did whilst these same people worship at the altar of the likes of Crawford, Shakur, and so many others who never once did what Loma and Usyk did routinely and never will in their careers or will ever be expected to by them either and who openly tell us they won't and that they won't fight much bigger fighters even on their obligatory stacked decks at home with home refs and judges.

But ''Loma ducked Shakur doe''

Yes, just keep returning to the crime scene when you've already been robbed numerous times vs our boys and had a huge part of your legacy stolen from you so the three home judges can rob you again, meanwhile our boys will never once dare do what you did many times or ever get robbed vs a foreigner in their entire careers because they won't ever have to fight any in their countries with a home ref and three home judges

So many of these multi-weight champs are massive weight bullies who are still much bigger or bigger or at worst roughly the same size as their career opponents when they move up 1,2, 3, 5 or even 5 divisions and in complete contrast to Loma and Usyk are not fighting bigger opponents when they move up, let alone much or way bigger than them like Loma's and Usyk's opponents were/are

And so many multi-weight champs are PED cheats

But people treat massive weight bully multi-weight champs and PED cheats and clean multi-weight champs like Loma and Usyk like they're exactly the same and are doing the same thing when they're very different and doing 2 very different things and one is much more risky, difficult, impressive and honourable.

So what exactly is the point of doing it the righteous, honourable, honest and much more difficult and risky way when you receive no credit for doing so and others who do a complete inversion of that are held in the same regard or often higher or much higher regard?

 

Here's a brief snippet of footage of Rico sparring Belly over a decade ago

Now whilst you might say he doesn't look impressive you also have to factor in he was in against slick, awkward and elusive pre-Kronk Belly who made world champions and world class pros look bad and struggle land on him with his slickness, skills, movement and high ring IQ and Rico had a lot less experience training boxing back then and Belly would go onto dethrone long-reigning unified champ Wlad weeks/ or at most a few months after in his very next fight

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A very green Rico was sparring the best HW in the world at the time who was awkward and slick as hell and who could make even the absolute best look bad