Usyk need to stop avoiding Itauma

I've already clearly explained why it does. Why do you continue to avoid the question?

It's also worth noting that Itauma is ranked 5 by RING magazine.

 

But you've explained wrong. Itauma is not next in line regardless of Rico. Two things have nothing do with each other.

Your "question" is for another thread.

 

I've explained it perfectly fine. You're trying to remove Usyk/Rico from the equation because it disproves your narrative that Itauma needs to earn a fight with Usyk.

Usyks choice of opponent is very relevant. Rico didn't earn his shot, so how do you justify him taking that fight above someone in the top 5 of the heavyweight division? FTR the only people currently ranked above Itauma is Hrgovic, Dubios, Kabayel, Wardley and Usyk himself.

Even if I don't personally think Itauma has earned a shot above the other contenders, he absolutely has a claim here.

 

No, you have explained why you are conflating two things that have nothing to do with each other.

Whether or not Usyk is ducking somebody by fighting Rico has nothing to do with Itauama, because he has not earned the position of the guy being ducked.

 

They have everything to do with each other. Usyk set the standard.

 

Nope. You are conflating two things that have nothing to do with each other. Everyone would like Usyk to fight a better opponent, but Itauma would not be it.




con·flate
/kənˈflāt/

This content is protected

verb
gerund or present participle: conflating

1. combine (two or more texts, ideas, etc.) into one.

 

Itauma is a better opponent than Rico, so well done for confirming my point.

 

But that is not what the thread is about.

 

I think you are getting it confused with the fact Usyk is fighting Rico and the criteria for Moses fighting him.
The fact that he is fighting Rico is clearly wrong but the fact that it’s happening doesn’t change the criteria for what should be required to fight him.
It can be used as a justification to argue that he is as eligible to fight Usyk as Rico is and probably more so, but the mistake here is that you are confusing that because Usyk is fighting Rico, that makes it the new rule.
Also at no point has anyone defended Usyk for taking the fight with Rico.
The fight with Rico is wrong and an anomaly it shouldn’t be taken as a definitive precedent and no one has said it is.
So the two things are mutually exclusive kinda

 

Arguably it is.

The thread is about Usyk avoiding Itauma. Usyk's choice of opponent in Rico gives this credibility, because Rico is considered to be a worse opponent. "Ducking" is the act of a boxer fighting someone less dangerous or skilled in favour of another opponent considered to be easier. Fighting Rico sets the bar so low he can be accused of ducking practically everyone else in the top ten at the moment.

Itauma has credibility as an opponent not through resume alone (which isn't great overall, but acceptable for where he is in his career), but also as a top 5 contender if we use the current heavyweight rankings.

This thread would not exist if Usyk was instead fighting one of his mandatories. But he isn't, he's fighting once a year and decided his next "worthy" opponent is a guy who has had one professional boxing match over a decade ago.

 

Except that they're not mutually exclusive. The claim is that Usyk is avoiding Itauma, which would usually have no basis if Usyk fought his mandatories or a challenger considered more dangerous than Itauma. He's not though, instead he is fighting Rico.

Whether or not this is Usyk setting a precedent or not is irrelevant. The fact remains that rather than fighting a credible opponent he is taking on gimmick fights as a defending champion. That is not acceptable and absolutely a duck to everyone in the top ten, let alone the respective mandatories for the belts he carries.

 

It's not. At least three people have tried to explain it to you. You are conflating two thing that have nothing to do with each other. If someone is being ducked, it is Wardley or Kabayel. Itauma is not part of the conversation.

 

I was just about to type the same thing

 

Ok the reason he isn’t avoiding ituma is because the only way that fight can happen is if Usyk gives ituma a gift and calls it, there is literally no other way that this fight happens unless Turki shots mega money at it.
So just to be clear he is avoiding Wardley, he is wrong for not fighting a credible fighter, I don’t know why he has avoided a mandatory.
But while all that is true he absolutely has not avoided Ituma because he has never been in a position to challenge him.

 

How is the ring magazines top 5 not part of the conversation when Usyk chooses to fight someone who isn't even ranked?

Like it or not, hyped or not, Itauma is part of the conversation. Your entire argument against Itauma is that he has not "earned" the fight, but that argument goes out the window when Usyk shows that being a mandatory is not a requirement to face him. It comes down to money, which a fight between Usyk and Itauma undoubtedly would generate.

It's not that hard to understand.