In 5 years people will accept Usyk as the GOAT heavyweight

Tyson x2, Moorer 2, are considered some of Holyfield's best performances of his career at Heavyweight though.

Yes Holyfield had a bad spell between 1994-1995 but the 1996-1997 version of Holyfield was clearly considerably better.

 

You are a great poster and i don't necessarily disagree. Usyk is a good combination puncher. He does have some nice punching variety. I liked the left uppercut followed by right hook 2 punch combo he did vs Joshua in fight 2.

The footage is great and i do agree he was quicker. He is a good combo puncher. What i was referring to were combination punchers who consistently let it rip with both hands - like Ali or Holyfield. Usyk, even in his prime, mixed in lighter shots with a couple of hard ones and rarely let it rip with both hands at full 100% force. I think he is probably capable of it but his trainers probably didn't allow it.

Usyk is certainly better than Ali in some areas. Usyk is a better body puncher than Ali, is defensively more sound (at least technically). I was merely disagreeing with the idea that he is better than Ali in every way. I still rate Ali as a better combination puncher because he was more consistently willing to let go 100% power with both hands.

 

I felt he visibly lost a step. I don't like to play the game of putting asterixes by wins, but if you look at what Tyson and Moorer subsequently accomplished, I am not sure those wins are as great as they seemed at the time. To be honest. I never thought much or Moorer, who was getting visibly wobbled by Leslie Stewart way back when he was a LHW.

But yes, they were decent enough wins, and the Tyson win was shocking at the time.

 

Fair enough we're agree to disagree.

 

And not even by that much. I just feel that Holy was not the whirlwind who fought Dokes or Bowe anymore.

 

He wasn't popular, but that didn't affect his status as the universally recognized, undisputed champion. Nobody called for the rematch with Weaver.

 

In 5 years Itauma will be seen as the better heavyweight

 

You know that Holmes was NOT undisputed. That was a typo.

And a lot of people called for him to fight Dokes, Page, Tubbs, Thomas...rematch Witherspoon. He openly swerved Page and Thomas. Note I am not saying "ducked." I'm not going to be that hard on him.

Sorry, friend, Holmes left a LOT on table, bragged about fighting little guys for big money, and made himself rightfully unpopular in his own time. He had good moments too, like the Cooney fight, no doubt, but he was a problematic champion.

 

Joshua is unranked though and beating Pringle is unlikely to put him back in the top 10. That's going to be a big problem if Fury wins.

Some people still view Fury as a top 10 heavyweight but the general consensus is that Joshua is no longer world class

 

Fury and Joshua will fight each other. One will win. It doesn't matter how they are ranked, now. That winner will come out as the recognized top of the "three kinds" era. That man will be begrudgingly recognized as great.

 

lol There is no way that either Fury or Joshua would be considered “great” by any rational boxing fan (excludes the Brits lol).

 

Both are two-time champions.

If Fury wins, his resume will show...

WladKlit
Joshua
WilderX2
Whyte
ChisoraX3
Cunningham
Wallin
Makhmudov
Johnson
Pianeta
Hammer

If Joshua wins, his record will show,

WladKlit
Fury
Parker
Ruiz
Povetkin
Whyte
Pulev
Martin
Breazele
Helenius
Wallin

How many champions and contender does one have to beat to you to carve out a place in history?

 

Do you consider Wilder “great”? All these guys are approximately on the same level. Beating a bunch of contenders, even those with “belts”, doesn’t make you “great” in my opinion. Is the MMA fighter that kicked Fury’s ass also “great”? lol

 

LOL! no.

Wilder beat no one at top level. Ortiz, Stiverne and Chisora are not at that level.

Wilder has only beaten ONE titlist, and an poor, obsese one at that in Stiverne.

Stop, please.

 

He had the universally recognized, undisputed status. Nobody considered Weaver a legit champion.

Holmes missed some guys in his era and was open that he fights for the money primarly, especially after 1982, but it's not a topic of discussion.