What did you make of Rico's forward moving hunched in style?

For such a big man to fight as a come forward pressure fighter, it seemed like he would have been very open for an uppercut, but it took until literally the end of the 11th before Usyk was finally able to land one.

There's been so much discussion on what Usyk did wrong, but Rico obviously did a lot right, what did you make of his unconventional but effective style in the fight?

 

What happened last night was more due to what Usyk did wrong than Rico did right. If Usyk had trained properly, he would have mopped the floor with Verhoeven.

 

Reminded me of the fight scene in me myself and Irene all be it more successful

 

It was very effective against Usyk's style, and clearly took Usyk, and everyone else by surprise.

I'd never seen Rico fight before, but going of what others had said, when kickboxing, he fights in a more upright, traditional style that you would expect from someone of his dimensions. Utilising his height and reach.

Clearly, it was a masterstroke completely changing his style for boxing, and it nearly paid of.

Now, whether it can work going forward is another matter. That element of surprise has gone. And, whilst he is clearly a great athlete and specimen, the come forward, spoiling style is not the most difficult to work out. It's a pain in the arse to deal with, and you'll know afterwards that you've been in a fight, but you'd expect a well schooled fighter to have some success against it.

Fortunately, for Rico, he is fighting in the HW division, the least skilled and athletic division, so he may continue to have success with this style.

What I am interested in to see, is if Rico persists with this style. Was this a style he adopted just for Usyk, or is this how he always boxers? If he fights someone different, will we see him employ a more traditional upright, big man strategy?

 

Had me laughing in Rd 1.

By Rd 10 I don't think anyone was laughing then

 

i look at how he fights and think to myself, a solid well trained boxer would lay him out pretty easily, then i try to think of an example and have no confidence in picking one out of the current line up.

 

Chisora was another fight where Usyk had some difficulty penetrating his opponents hunched down, tight stance. It wouldn't surprise me if Rico and Peter Fury studied that fight when formulating a game plan. Overall it is fair to say Usyk is more comfortable against taller, more upright opposition.

 

I had the same reaction.
I thought it was ridiculous at first and that Usyk will quickly figure him out, but after a few rounds, I was mystified by how effective it was.

 

Chisora seems to have a little Frazier in him and Bellew said Verhoeven made himself look small but imposed himself well like Frazier and constantly fidgeting about. We can deduce that a brute of a swarmer like the great Frazier himself would give Usyk all kinds of hell. He reminded me of Algieri’s weird movement at first as well and he had a kickboxing background. He came out like that and I thought looks like popeye means business tonight.

 

Usyk did try uppercuts throughout the fight with various success, but Rico was also moving his feet constantly which made it more difficult for Usyk to time him.

The hunched stance was very effective at taking away Usyk's left hand and hooks. Genius approach imo

 

Arm punching allowed him to maintain that volume and awkwardness for 11 rounds. He would not have been able to keep that up if he was loading up too much.

 

Very effective and somewhat unorthodox.

 

It made me feel uncomfortable as if he was going to come lurching out of the screen at some point.

 

Reminded me of an 18.5 stone Dempsey!! Hunched over, aggresive, hitting anything. Not comparing the two fighters obviously but this was a throwback style. If the film was black and white you'd have thought it was a vintage tape!!