Historical perspective on Oleksandr Usyk after Verhoeven Fight

He was down on most people's cards. I actually agree he would have won by stoppage in round 12. I don't think this fight changes much legacy wise.

Usyk is getting criticized for holding up the division. He is defending once a year. His legacy as a top 10 or top 15 all time heavy is secure regardless.

 

That's just modern boxing in general. Blame capitalism not the boxers. I agree that this fight doesn't diminish his overall legacy. Imo anyone who thinks it does is just looking for any excuse to diminish Usyk.

 

Uysk gets a pass because it's first relatively bad performance ever almost everyone has it at some point.

But the fact it came against a kickboxer (albeit Rico did well) means it does have to count again Uysk somewhat IMO.

 

Usyk is still the GOAT.

 

His resume is objectively (Statistically) less valuable than Mayweathers he's not even the best of the 21st century

 

He really shouldn't be in the top 50 if we are being honest with ourselves.

 

I rewatched the fight. Everything smells fishy about this fight. Usyk does nothing for 11 rounds, and all of a sudden he unleashes on Rico, and the ref abruptly stops the fight in 11.

Somebody probably bet huge on "Usyk stops Rico on 11 while Rico is ahead in scorecards".

 

It's pretty cool that even though a lot of posters think it was a bad fight, 45% still have him top ten, and 55% still have him top 15.

Even if he lost some point with some, he can come back form this.

To me, it adds a successful title defense.

 

I think it's fair to say that Usyk is not what he once was. Neither his movement or activity level are what they once were. He is very near the end of a high quality career. The key is that all of this was true before the Verhoeven fight. It was obvious by his soft body that the champ made the same mistake Fury did against Ngannou by not taking Verhoeven as seriously as he should have. He should legitimately be taken to task for that blunder but this bout really doesn't do much to alter my perceptioon of his career.

Head to head I believe he is a top five heavyweight. There are only a handful of guys who could cope with his combination of movement, intelligence and size. From an all-time great perspective I think he is at the lower end of the top ten. He just hasn't beaten enough quality heavyweights to move much higher than that.

Of course, if people are talking about top ten all-time great with regard to all of boxing and not just heavyweights then Usyk was never in the top ten but I could see him in the top 30.

 

Top 2 brain damaged poster, nip and tuck with oldschoolboxing. Congrats.

 

My brain is so damaged I had a fever dream Usyk was losing rounds to a kickboxer.

 

Active kickboxers have won titles in boxing, there are ateast two cases from sub HW fighters. Kickboxers have converted late and gone on to be Ring champion (Vitali, Briedis), or top contenders at cruiser and HW (Povetkin, Miller, Whyte). A 37 year old Vitali, Briedis or Povetkin with 15+ years boxibg training with the Fury's etc., preparing specifically for Usyk, could win plenty of rounds against an overconfident, too heavy, 39 year old Usyk with no boxing tape to study, or any other HW under even broadly similar circumstances. Rico and Ngannou are better than an absolute litany of contenders, especially with the element of surprise in their first real pro boxing match.

 

I still think people underestimate how hard it is to make up the natural weight/size advantage in boxing. I think Usyks done it better than anyone but these fights are harder than people realise. Joshua and Fury etc. Although people see them as easy enough wins. Hes getting pushed to the limits....with the heavier punches/weight etc.

Rico,s size and attributes almost tipped it too far. Rico,s a huge bloke. Who was slimmed down at 260 lb. He had speed strength power and stamina. Usyks getting the better of guys by getting them working harder than they want to be working before starting to drown them etc. He struggled with Rico because ricos speed and power made usyk unable to really get him working as hard as he wanted to as usyk couldnt afford to take too many right hands in the exchange. Add to that the fellas stamina was off the charts. Personally i think he was on something.

No way an 18.5 stone man thats never had a pro boxing match or never fought 12 rounds can bounce about for 11 rounds without tiring. His punches remained solid throughout after bouncing around for 11 rounds at 18.5 stone. He was also generating real power with arm punches. Usyks staminas incredible. But hes 30 lbs lighter than these guys. He also mostly doesnt put much on his shots and controls the pace very very well. This guy didnt control the pace. He was 260 lbls. Every shot had power on it. Hes never done 12 rounds. He bounced around every second of the fight. A style no heavyweight uses because its tiring and yet he never once tired. His punch power also never tired at 18.5 stone in his first boxing match add to that his boxing technique was almost comical. The elephant in the room is....the things that cant be enhanced with peds we,re not good. The things that could be enhanced with peds we,re exceptionally good.

For them reasons usyk still just top 5 for me. He,d be better avoiding the rematch cause i m not sure he gets as lucky next time tho. The big guy was a problem.