Usyk is vacating all the belts!

He didn't have to be...he has a great resume. Jake Lamotta was not #1 over Robinson...you can go on and on, but I am not going to. The resume argument wins the argument.

 

His deeper resume didn't help him against Gassiev and it didn't help Cunningham against Adamek.
You don't get to opt out of fighting your contemporaries because you have a deeper resume.

Joshua was far more proven than Dubois when they fought with a much deeper resume.

By your logic he shouldn't have taken the fight so as to retain his resume edge and go down as the better fighter without proving it in the ring.

 

Fighters can lose fights. He has a very good resume for a cruiserweight champ, and is acknowledged as one of the best. Nothing is going to change that. You are inventing your own dumb metrics to avoid giving Lebedev the credit that they entire rest of the world knows he is due because you you are hoping that it will somehow diminish Gassiev. Both things are silly.

 

My criteria is fighting and beating your contemporaries which is something expected of greats. He missed out on too many dangerous opponents and came up short a bit too often given his competition
How many additional losses does he collect if he fights Usyk, Breidis, Adamek, Drozd etc?

He's not much of a champ in my book as he never proved himself the best. So why bring it up.

 

Lebedevs supposedly impressive resume is due to fighting a lot of guys good enough to barely make the ratings (eg lower top 10) but who were not among the divisions elite

So I'm not sure why we are supposed to be impressed?

 

Rubbish. You are talking pure bollocks. Good luck to you. This all goes back to you want to dump on Gassiev via Lebedev. Meanwhile, a great former unified cruiserweight champ is making a comeback and will make a good splash at heavy. You can be on the right end of it, or the wrong, but I am done arguing with foolishness.

 

Hasn't he been at heavyweight for a while now? If he's trying to make a splash he's either taking his sweet time or keeps hitting the edge of the pool instead of in it.

 

He's struggled with injuries and guys who don't want to fight him. I believe he is turning that corner. He is 32 years old, a former unified cruiserweight champ, and now a heavyweight champ. I think this is finally his second wind.

Anyone who doesn't agree--no problem. We will see.

 

My take is that he's no champion until he earns it in the ring against a credible opponent. Let's see how long he can hold onto to this belt for because he's going to be a magnet soon for the rest of the division now that they have something to potentially gain.

He should fight Kabayel for a unification fight

 

Gassiev was never at any point in the time the best cruiserweight in the world.

And he was relevant there for like 2 years

Is Ramirez already a great cruiserweight in your view?

 

But you know that he has tried to get that credible opponent in the ring, and a list of guys have turned him down.

Sure, I would love to see him against Kabayel--two good guys. But Kabayel is talking about fighting Rico Verhouven, Wladimir Klitschko, and Jarrell Miller. So That isn't going to happen, and it's not Murat's fault.

 

Good luck to you in inventing your own metrics.

Boxing is mostly about resume. Always has been, and always will be.

 

He wasn't a champion at the time, Usyk was. Regular belt is worth about as much as used toilet paper, but you know my opinion on that so no use arguing about it.

It would be an absolute travesty to see Klitschko in the ring and Jarrell Miller is meh at best. Rico is interesting only because it will answer a few questions about his ability to adjust in boxing.

 

But at 39, everyone knew Usyk was on his way out. So that was a very viable path. Even considering it a #1 contender spot, it would have been worth fighting for. He's just too high risk. Hopefully they find the guts.

Kabayel has immediately become Usyk who became Fury. The cycle continues.

 

Doesn't really matter. WBA was basically at the back of the line with WBO/WBC being next, and they weren't getting their shots, so it wasn't considered as high priority. You can only act based on current conditions as there was no guarantee Usyk would vacate so soon.

I agree, it's a depressing cycle. Hopefully some life is breathed into the division soon because there's a lot of exciting matchups to make.