What happened: Usyk badly faded or Rico much better than expected?

He would’ve definitely been stopped in a much more conclusive way if Usyk had those thirty seconds. Spitting the mouthpiece out was a calculated move to buy the time and take the point in order to avoid too much of a barrage and get to round 12, if he had been swarmed and didn’t do that people would be saying he’s naive and should’ve taken another knee or spit the guard out. Usually a fighter still has their wits about them if they deliberately remove the mouthpiece.

 

IDK, people kept oohing and aahing at Ricos slap and smother technique. He was awkward and his punches had nothing on them. For all the sounds the crowd made, Usyk was never in trouble not even for 1 second. Usyk looked annoyed though from Ricos hit and hold style combined with all the back and kidney shots.

Like everyone, I do speculate Usyk had half a training camp, but Ricos awkwardness was the issue imo. DAZN color commentators sounded like actual casuals lmao

 

It felt like a mix of Porter v Brook and Maidana v Floyd except Rico never troubled Usyk, just annoyed him. But all the punching/slapping and smothering and hugging was painful to watch.

Styles make fights and Rico legitimately stumped Usyk for awhile mostly because boxers dont use slappy punches, they actually try to hurt opponents. And Ricos style doesnt allow for power to generate, just overwhelm into a smother.

Ricos best skill was his left shoulder. I think it's just his anatomy but his shoulder fully covers his jaw even when he punches so countering his leads were tough.

 

Was the ring too small, or was it because of the camera angle?

 

I've always said that since the Briedis fight... Usyk tends to get out of his opponents the maximum. Bellew, Chisora, Joshua, Fury, Duboius - all of them showed their best faces. Usyk motivates his opponents - I don't know how, but his fights are quite similar - start passively, get the best out of you and then drown you mid/late rounds.

 

In addition - was the stoppage weird - yes. But I don't think Usyk did anything wrong, aged or etc. - it was purely Rico's well structured plan. A plan that in the end did not work.

 

Holy **** you are spot on. I kept thinking he looked like an ape trying to fight but it was exactly like Jim Carrey in Me, Myself and Irene.

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I rewatched this fight again last month, people don’t appreciate how violent that fight was at times, Mayweather had to pull out some of his pretty boy era aggression to earn some respect. At times I saw Usyk get vicious, I mean look at Verhoeven’s bruised up face, but he didn’t seem to be able to find or take a lot of openings. Don’t know how much was Rico smothering him and being so lively in his movement or how much Usyk is slowing down in processing speed.

 

This is only informed guesswork, of course, but I'd put the performance down to something like:

(a) Rico actually being pretty good - 20%;

(b) Rico maybe not being all that good but certainly having a very surprising/unusual style that took a while to work out - 20%;

(c) Usyk being in poor condition/ not properly prepared, something that could be improved on in a hypothetical next fight - 30%; and

(d) Usyk showing the clearest signs yet of substantial decline, something that will only get worse - 30%.

As others have said, i found this very, very similar to the Lewis v Vitali fight, albeit against weaker opposition, and to be honest i expect the same outcome, namely retirement.

 

Eh, Usyk didn't look great in there, but I think Rico not being a regular boxer is what's causing all the emotional, over-the-top, nonsensical takes we're seeing.

Imagine you didn't watch the fight and you knew nothing about Usyk's opponent. Someone describes the fight to you and they say Usyk started slow, gave away some rounds, was losing by a few rounds going into the championship rounds, and then he knocked the guy out/won down the stretch. Does that sound like a terrible night for Usyk? Or does it sound kinda like a lot of his fights over the years? Bellew, the AJ rematch, etc.

Rico got treated like an utter novice from the boxing public instead of the hardened, wildly experienced guy he actually is. He's bigger, younger, and has the stamina of a teenager on gas station dick pills. Peter Fury crafted a phenomenal game plan for him and he was quite awkward in there. Still never really hurt Usyk at any point and got beat up and stopped.

As usual after every fight we have to have wild overreactions to everything. The entire sport is rigged! Usyk was never any good! All HWs are garbage, especially modern ones! It was an utter disgrace and boxing will never recover! Come off it, man.

 

If we accept the guy is actually a talented boxer and can transfer his knowledge from kickboxing and adapt to just one discipline and perform well, we see Usyk got the job done in an entertaining highly skillful contest. The stoppage is largely considered early but he was genuinely hurt from the uppercut and whether he would be been taken out in round 12 we will never know. If he gets through it, he has a decent chance on the scorecards. He might have even chinned Usyk instead.

 

That fight couldve been a draw - it was close. But Marcos did a TON of dirty ****...low blows, hitting while holding, tackling, hitting behind head/rabbit punches, even attempted to knee at one point and Tony Weekes did his best Laurence Cole impression for worst ref ever.

But, yes, Marcos was highly effective. Obviously Rico and Usyk didnt have anywhere near the action Marcos and Floyd had but Rico doesnt kno how to really box so he did more Shawn Porter vs Kell Brook style and smothered his own work, clinched, held, held and hit, hit in the back while managing to pretty much do...nothing at all...

 

Maidana was dirty as **** but it was just about within the rules and it’s upon the ref to discipline the action. Floyd just took most of it like ‘okay then’, he already knew he was in for a rough fight but Maidana really pushed his luck at times. I laughed my *** off when at one point a fed up Floyd yells to him in disgust ‘KEEP IT CLEAN’ lol. Mayweather left the forearm in his face in return, I always noticed he sort of tries blocking the opponents mouth and nose, that’s what was aggravating Ortiz and Maidana ended up biting him in fight 2 for it.

 

Usyk looked so heavy and clunky last night. He was fast and fluid in Dubois 2.

Maybe the blueprint to beat Usyk is the "hunchback boxing" style. Chisora and Rico used it well.

 

What did he do? I watched the fight again and he barely landed anything clean, Usyk was just playing with his food