Usyk is still the #1 heavyweight of his era

slash · May 27, 2026

Boxed Ears said: ↑

He never had good abs though. You can't deny that.
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Sure he did. Not against Verhoeven, though.

slash · May 27, 2026

Reinhardt said: ↑

This is a horrid era so,,,,,
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In a way, it reminds me of the 80's. Full of drug abusers and mental defectives.

slash · May 27, 2026

Dynamicpuncher said: ↑

Cruiserweight fights being added to a Heavyweight resume don't work for me primarily because you'd have to rearrange the whole rankings it just doesn't work.

Is Marciano suddenly the Cruiserweight GOAT now then ? Considering he weighed 185 pounds and most of his notable opponents were under 200 pounds ?

Is Holyfield a top 3 Heavyweight based on his Cruiserweight resume aswell ? Yes I know the Cruiserweight limit back then was 190 pounds. But that's still in the same range as Marciano's era of Heavyweights ?

Heavyweight and Cruiserweight resume should be separate and that's how it should be IMO.

As for Usyk yes of course he's still the best Heavyweight of his era one off night doesn't erase the fantastic career Usyk has had.

I just don't like the fact people on here brand you as a hater or being biased towards the modern era if you have any constructive criticism.

I didn't like the fact an active champion was fighting a kickboxer especially when Usyk holds all the belts pretty much. Add to the fact its Usyk's only fight in the past year and even worse it was sanctioned as a world title fight ?

He is not the GOAT cruiserweight.

And then Usyk surprisingly struggled alot in the fight and didn't look good. Obviously fans won't be happy especially since boxings reputation took a bit of a hit.

So fighting in these crossover fights is always a lose/lose situation especially if it's not an exhibition and counts on the official record.

I also don't like the fact Usyk only averages 1 fight per year so not enough of the prominent fights between other contenders are happening.

And as a fan of the sport who wouldn't want to see more of the best Heavyweight in the world in action ?

And that's not me being a hater again I have to keep reiterating this point because frankly I'm tired of people suggesting I'm a hater for constructive criticism.

I like Usyk because unlike the giants of today he's more like a throwback to the smaller skillful Heavyweights of the 70s, 80s, which I appreciate alot more.

But as I said no fighter is above criticism if its valid and unbiased.

I realise Usyk is getting older now and I wish him well against Kabayel and that he can produce one last stand out performance.

The Rico fight also doesn't change the fact that Usyk is the GOAT Cruiserweight and the best Heavyweight of his era.

And if Usyk does beat Kabayel I'd move him up a few places in my all time Heavyweight ranking list probably being close to top 10.

No hate from me I just didn't like the kickboxer fight being a world title fight and I wish Usyk was a bit more active thats all.
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slash · May 27, 2026

Dynamicpuncher said: ↑

Cruiserweight fights being added to a Heavyweight resume don't work for me primarily because you'd have to rearrange the whole rankings it just doesn't work.

Is Marciano suddenly the Cruiserweight GOAT now then ? Considering he weighed 185 pounds and most of his notable opponents were under 200 pounds ?

Is Holyfield a top 3 Heavyweight based on his Cruiserweight resume aswell ? Yes I know the Cruiserweight limit back then was 190 pounds. But that's still in the same range as Marciano's era of Heavyweights ?

Heavyweight and Cruiserweight resume should be separate and that's how it should be IMO.

As for Usyk yes of course he's still the best Heavyweight of his era one off night doesn't erase the fantastic career Usyk has had.

I just don't like the fact people on here brand you as a hater or being biased towards the modern era if you have any constructive criticism.

I didn't like the fact an active champion was fighting a kickboxer especially when Usyk holds all the belts pretty much. Add to the fact its Usyk's only fight in the past year and even worse it was sanctioned as a world title fight ?

And then Usyk surprisingly struggled alot in the fight and didn't look good. Obviously fans won't be happy especially since boxings reputation took a bit of a hit.

So fighting in these crossover fights is always a lose/lose situation especially if it's not an exhibition and counts on the official record.

I also don't like the fact Usyk only averages 1 fight per year so not enough of the prominent fights between other contenders are happening.

And as a fan of the sport who wouldn't want to see more of the best Heavyweight in the world in action ?

And that's not me being a hater again I have to keep reiterating this point because frankly I'm tired of people suggesting I'm a hater for constructive criticism.

I like Usyk because unlike the giants of today he's more like a throwback to the smaller skillful Heavyweights of the 70s, 80s, which I appreciate alot more.

But as I said no fighter is above criticism if its valid and unbiased.

I realise Usyk is getting older now and I wish him well against Kabayel and that he can produce one last stand out performance.

The Rico fight also doesn't change the fact that Usyk is the GOAT Cruiserweight and the best Heavyweight of his era.

And if Usyk does beat Kabayel I'd move him up a few places in my all time Heavyweight ranking list probably being close to top 10.

No hate from me I just didn't like the kickboxer fight being a world title fight and I wish Usyk was a bit more active thats all.
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He is not the GOAT cruiserweight.

Boxed Ears · May 27, 2026

slash said: ↑

Sure he did. Not against Verhoeven, though.
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Pics or it didn't happen.

slash · May 27, 2026

Boxed Ears said: ↑

Pics or it didn't happen.
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Can't help with you with that. You'll just have to trust me

Slyk · May 27, 2026

dmt said: ↑

You can make a case for cruiser fights. The WSB fights, while entertaining, should never be counted as pro fights.
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Why? They're fought in a pro setting with pro rules. 5 rounds, 3 minutes per round. How are these bouts not BETTER than typical 6 rounder cannon fodder for future champs?

Look at the guys Usyk beat in those 5 rounders, and explain to me how fighting lesser opposition over 6 rounders is better.

catchwtboxing · May 27, 2026

dmt said: ↑

all right, just a little rant.

People who know me know i have always cheered for Usyk. I picked him to beat Joshua and had him a slight favourite vs Fury. (though i saw the Fury fight as a 50-50 fight with a slide edge to Usyk). I cheered for him in both match ups and was glad he won.

He is a great fighter. Although he has not had a lot of fights at heavyweight, he has 6-7 quality wins at heavyweight (depending on whether you regard Chisora as a quality win given how many fights he has lost).

Fury did not want to fight Usyk and he said so in 2021 before Uysk-Joshua 1. Some people are arguing that Fury was fading or faded when they fought but guess what? That isn't Usyk's fault since he was always willing to fight Fury and Fury was not willing to fight Usyk until his hand was forced by Turki.

Usyk has beaten the #2 and #3 guys of his era - Joshua and Fury twice each. While Dubois is quite clueless defensively and lacks a high fight IQ, he is a highly physically gifted fighter. Beating a guy like that twice is still very impressive.

Once Usyk beat Fury in the rematch in December 2024, he should have retired and he had already proved himself as the #1 guy of his era. Even if he had lost every fight since, i would still regard him as the #1 guy of his era.

I think regardless of whether Usyk wins another fight or not, we should rate guys based on what they accomplished in their prime. Holyfield fought well past his prime and i do not count those losses against him.

I think the backlash to Usyk is due to 2 reasons, i) the insistence of some Usyk fans who claimed he is the greatest heavyweight of all time, ii) Usyk fighting once a year and holding up the division with a mickey mouse fight rather than fighting his mandatories.

Here is how i feel:

i) you can't be the GOAT heavyweight if you have 8 fights at heavy. Even if you count his cruiser fights as heavy (to be fair his cruiser resume is quite good), there just isn't enough depth. We can acknowledge he is the best of his era while also acknowledging that the depth is lacking.

ii) Holding up the division is wrong. Blaming capitalism is absurd. Dude made over 100 million in the Fury fights. Once you have this kind of money, you don't get an excuse to hold up the division by arguing you deserve easy fights.

I think these criticisms are valid. Some of his fans got way too carried away. The only way Usyk could have been the goat heavyweight is if he moved up earlier and fought 20 or so times at heavy and fought a broader range of styles.

Holding up the division does not harm his legacy as the #1 heavy of his era but it is nonetheless worthy of criticism and there is now a legitimate case for him to be stripped of multiple belts.

All in all, i hope people are able to come to a sensible equilibrium. The guy is clearly the #1 heavyweight of his era despite having few fights at the weight because he went for all the major belts and won them. He is clearly a top 10 or top 15 heavyweight of all time.

Having a tough fight vs Rico should not diminish his standing as the #1 guy of his era (and i do believe he would have stopped Rico in the 12th). Even if he loses his next fight and doesn't win another fight, he should go down as the best of his era. Post prime losses should not count against you.

On the other hand, his fans need to admit that they should not be giving him a pass to take these mickey mouse fights while fighting once a year. His fans should not get upset if one or all the belts are stripped. It doesn't damage his legacy but the division needs to move on.
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He beat the #2, #3, and #4, twice each. He has left no doubt.

And it is worth noting that Fury, Joshua, Dubois, and maybe even Rico are now out there increasing their own place in history, and thus, the scope of Uysk's accomplishments in beating them. Gassiev too in the PfP sense.

catchwtboxing · May 27, 2026

HistoryZero26 said: ↑

No. Even if he was he didn't fight enough to prove it. Neither did anyone else you might say and you're right the title of number one for this era should remain vacant.
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Fury, Joshua and Dubois are undoubtedly the #2, #3, and #4 of the post-Klit era, in whatever order you want to put them, and the beat them each twice.

Serious question...no animosity towards your point of view...who else are you throwing in here? Wilder? Ituama? To me Wilder is fraudulent, and Itauma is the next era. I wouldn't even know who else to throw in there.

fencik45 · May 27, 2026

dmt said: ↑

There is a thread on this very forum with people insisting Usyk is the #1 heavyweight of all time.

Usyk vs Zhang would have sold in China assuming there were no political issues.

Now even if you want to justify inactivity, fine, you can be inactive if you are fighting your mandatories. You can't be both inactive and fight kickboxers.

Other fighters primes are being wasted. Look at Parker. He beat Wilder and Zhang. He was willing to get in there with Dubois before Dubois pulled out. Usyk went for a Dubois rematch rather than fight Parker (for the record, i believe Usyk would beat Parker).

Then Parker takes on a dangerous mandatory and loses his spot.

Now Kabayel is in his prime but maybe has a max of 2-3 years of top level fighting left and his prime is being wasted.
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Boo hoo for Parker. He sucks anyhow.

fencik45 · May 27, 2026

catchwtboxing said: ↑

Fury, Joshua and Dubois are undoubtedly the #2, #3, and #4 of the post-Klit era, in whatever order you want to put them, and the beat them each twice.

Serious question...no animosity towards your point of view...who else are you throwing in here? Wilder? Ituama? To me Wilder is fraudulent, and Itauma is the next era. I wouldn't even know who else to throw in there.
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How on Earth could you include Itauma on any list of greatness yet? He has yet to accomplish anything.

HistoryZero26 · May 27, 2026

catchwtboxing said: ↑

Fury, Joshua and Dubois are undoubtedly the #2, #3, and #4 of the post-Klit era, in whatever order you want to put them, and the beat them each twice.

Serious question...no animosity towards your point of view...who else are you throwing in here? Wilder? Ituama? To me Wilder is fraudulent, and Itauma is the next era. I wouldn't even know who else to throw in there.
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The field. They ducked a whole generation and made answering that question impossible. If I had to produce an answer it would be Kabayel, Sanchez or Hrgovic. But theres a whole group denied the chance to prove they belong in that convo.

Itauma is not in the convo there dozens of late 30s I'm talking about. Jared Anderson is the best 20 something. Not Itauma hes just hyped to the moon because hes British.

CooperKupp · May 27, 2026

dmt said: ↑

all right, just a little rant.

People who know me know i have always cheered for Usyk. I picked him to beat Joshua and had him a slight favourite vs Fury. (though i saw the Fury fight as a 50-50 fight with a slide edge to Usyk). I cheered for him in both match ups and was glad he won.

He is a great fighter. Although he has not had a lot of fights at heavyweight, he has 6-7 quality wins at heavyweight (depending on whether you regard Chisora as a quality win given how many fights he has lost).

Fury did not want to fight Usyk and he said so in 2021 before Uysk-Joshua 1. Some people are arguing that Fury was fading or faded when they fought but guess what? That isn't Usyk's fault since he was always willing to fight Fury and Fury was not willing to fight Usyk until his hand was forced by Turki.

Usyk has beaten the #2 and #3 guys of his era - Joshua and Fury twice each. While Dubois is quite clueless defensively and lacks a high fight IQ, he is a highly physically gifted fighter. Beating a guy like that twice is still very impressive.

Once Usyk beat Fury in the rematch in December 2024, he should have retired and he had already proved himself as the #1 guy of his era. Even if he had lost every fight since, i would still regard him as the #1 guy of his era.

I think regardless of whether Usyk wins another fight or not, we should rate guys based on what they accomplished in their prime. Holyfield fought well past his prime and i do not count those losses against him.

I think the backlash to Usyk is due to 2 reasons, i) the insistence of some Usyk fans who claimed he is the greatest heavyweight of all time, ii) Usyk fighting once a year and holding up the division with a mickey mouse fight rather than fighting his mandatories.

Here is how i feel:

i) you can't be the GOAT heavyweight if you have 8 fights at heavy. Even if you count his cruiser fights as heavy (to be fair his cruiser resume is quite good), there just isn't enough depth. We can acknowledge he is the best of his era while also acknowledging that the depth is lacking.

ii) Holding up the division is wrong. Blaming capitalism is absurd. Dude made over 100 million in the Fury fights. Once you have this kind of money, you don't get an excuse to hold up the division by arguing you deserve easy fights.

I think these criticisms are valid. Some of his fans got way too carried away. The only way Usyk could have been the goat heavyweight is if he moved up earlier and fought 20 or so times at heavy and fought a broader range of styles.

Holding up the division does not harm his legacy as the #1 heavy of his era but it is nonetheless worthy of criticism and there is now a legitimate case for him to be stripped of multiple belts.

All in all, i hope people are able to come to a sensible equilibrium. The guy is clearly the #1 heavyweight of his era despite having few fights at the weight because he went for all the major belts and won them. He is clearly a top 10 or top 15 heavyweight of all time.

Having a tough fight vs Rico should not diminish his standing as the #1 guy of his era (and i do believe he would have stopped Rico in the 12th). Even if he loses his next fight and doesn't win another fight, he should go down as the best of his era. Post prime losses should not count against you.

On the other hand, his fans need to admit that they should not be giving him a pass to take these mickey mouse fights while fighting once a year. His fans should not get upset if one or all the belts are stripped. It doesn't damage his legacy but the division needs to move on.
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Absolutely 100%. One bad outing doesn’t hurt Jack **** as far as Usyk’s legacy. He’s already conquered the sport of boxing! Lol

And where were Mike Tyson, lewis and Holyfield at age 39 again??? Did the same usual suspects **** talkers of Usyk judge those three as harshly at that age as they do Usyk for his Rico KO WIN??? lol

Did Kevin McBride’s destruction of Mike Tyson lower his legacy??? Sure hasn’t sounded like it! Or Holyfield’s ass whooping he suffered from blown up cruiser James Toney??? I mean usual suspects still called Holyfield a top 10 HW and still had him as the goat Cruiser!!

And Lewis… Oh that’s right at 39 he was still cheering all of Vitali’s opponents from the crowd praying they’d beat him.

MarkusFlorez99 · May 27, 2026

HistoryZero26 said: ↑

The field. They ducked a whole generation and made answering that question impossible. If I had to produce an answer it would be Kabayel, Sanchez or Hrgovic. But theres a whole group denied the chance to prove they belong in that convo.

Itauma is not in the convo there dozens of late 30s I'm talking about. Jared Anderson is the best 20 something. Not Itauma hes just hyped to the moon because hes British.
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Dubois is top 3, he has proven himself against Aj, Hrgovic, Miller, Wardley

HistoryZero26 · May 27, 2026

MarkusFlorez99 said: ↑

Dubois is top 3, he has proven himself against Aj, Hrgovic, Miller, Wardley
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Hes got a better case then Fury and AJ thats for sure though the number of L's give me pause. I do think Hrgovic might be better.

Wardley I think the whole top 20 outpoints. Beating Wardley doesn't do much for me.

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