Usyk has lost 32 of his last 85 rounds.

"Who cares if Usyk loses rounds here and there. Lots of great fighters have."

The point was champions who've kept their belt as long as he has haven't. At least at HW. John Ruiz and Byrd lost more I think.

If a fighter keep winning close ones it means very little was needed to change that outcome and a loss is coming sooner rather than later because the outcome came down to a very small % of the fight being flipped. Like with Fury, if Usyk doesn't score an uncharacteristic KD there it's a draw or loss.

The reason champions who hold their belt don't lose as many rounds as Usyk is because if they are losing that many rounds every fight usually they would have lost by now. If a fighter needs to dig deep to beat a kickboxer they probably won't next time against an elite opponent.

I agree about Vitali and yeah dominance over fighters not considered the best implies that the competition is the problem. Vitali the thing for me is his competition is awful for a champion but if you pretend he's not a champion that's a very nice resume. I feel like Vitali is the beneficiary of first impressions. People in 2004 saw him as the "good brother" and no matter the mountain of evidence they are not changing their minds.

 

It's not needed for other champions because they don't lose as many rounds.

 

Given his list of desired opponents it probably doesn't. Wilder and Andy Ruiz. The whole concept depends on the champion fighting a top opponent every time out. If that is circumvented well all bets are off. He didn't want to fight Wardley but he'll beat Wardley. There's options out there where Usyk can continue his reign. I think those options are horrible for the sport and he's kind of ruined a bunch of careers but they are there. And after seeing Fury rebound from the Ngannou fight I'm not writing off Usyk against better fighters I'd have previously picked him to beat.

Other than Kabayel(maybe) Usyk isn't fighting any of the people who have a very good chance against him. I don't think he will fight Kabayel he's just got to humor it because Kabayel is a titlelist and people are asking him. No ones asking him about Sanchez, Hrgovic, Bakole, Jared Anderson or the like. He will not fight them and if those guys could beat Usyk they will never get a chance to prove it.

 

I answered this in the OP.

It all added up to 39/207. Give or take.