Is Usyk a Top 10 Heavyweight of all time?

Bantamweight in the 1960s
Flyweight in the 1970s
Featherweight in the 1960s
Lightweight in the 1960s

All eras off the top of my head which were dominated by non-US fighters that are considered very strong by "experts"

There's probably even more than that.

 

No where near

 

H2H he's definitely top 10. You could even argue he's #1 without it being too controversial. I don't think he is but I think it's arguable.

In terms of resume? That's a more difficult question. Although, it's kind of annoying that no one acknowledges that the Cruiserweight division massively ****s over all heavyweights that came after it.

A 207lbs Muhammad Ali beating the 186lbs Henry Cooper is a win on his Heavyweight resume.

A 205lbs Oleksandr Usyk beating the 220lbs Murat Gassiev isn't a win on his Heavyweight resume...

If you consider his Cruiserweight career as part of heavyweight career historically then in terms of both H2H ability he's unquestionably top 3 and resume he's unquestionably top 10.

Nearing End of Prime Fury X2
Prime Daniel Dubois X1
Prime Anthony Joshua X2
Prime Mairis Breidis
Prime Murat Gassiev
Prime Tony Bellew
Prime Krzysztof Głowacki
Nearing End of Prime Derek Chisora
Prime Michael Hunter Jr
End of Prime Marco Huck
Prime Thabiso McHunu

With a few of these being extremely dominant shutouts or KO's, is without question a top 10 of all time resume over 200lbs.

 

I don't have a top 10 but he'd most like be in the 8-10 range.

Top 1 or 2 CW; H2H, PFP, whatever.

 

Theres not a heavyweight champion in history that i would put against Usyk and be certain they would beat Usyk. For that reason ive got him a cert in the Top 10, maybe even Top 5. For most of those names who circulate around Top 10 discussions, i can match them up with a guy i would comfortably favor to beat them. For Usyk i cannot. Lennox is another that i struggle to find a name that id confidently pick to beat him.

If it was a 16 man tournament of the best in history and i pulled a Peak Oleksandr Usyk as my fighter, id be very happy with my chances at winning the whole thing.

 

Not even close to top 10.

I'm not sure I'd have him 100th just because of how little he accomplished. It's disrespectful to the guys who had 50-100 fight careers.

 

Arguably the greatest cruiserweight of all time; but his heavyweight resume is far too thin for him to be mentioned alongside the greats at HW. A post-Ruiz Joshua, a post-Ngannou Fury, and Dubois and Chisora are not wins that will be held in great regard 10/20 years from now, in my view.

There's this idea that Usyk can't be hurt, but Korobov absolutely smashed him all over the place as an amateur and won by stoppage, Beterbiev had him down with a body shot in the amateurs, Fury hurt him with an uppercut, and Rico Verhoeven, with 1 professional boxing fight took him right to the wire. Even Joshua's gun-shy 1/2 approach had some success in the second fight.

Usyk could fight any heavyweight in history, and he would not be out of his depth, I don't want to disparage him too much because he's an absolute legend of the sport and it's been a privilege to watch his career, but I think Holyfield probably would've beaten him at cruiserweight and heavyweight and I don't have Holyfield that high in the top 10 at heavyweight either, so I think that puts it into context for me.

 

Here's a little skit where Usyk time travels to 1915.

Usyk "I did it I defeated Sam Langford!!".

Onlooker "That was Silas Green"

Usyk "*****"

 

Probably, not too many heavyweights have actually cleared out their division in their times there.

 

Unless we have different versions of 'cleared' I disagree with this. The only two heavyweights who cleared out their division are Ali and Louis.

EDIT: And maybe Marciano, anyways it's certainly not ten people who cleared the division

 

Yes he’s a top 10 heavyweight of all time


His run is special

Only issue is lack of volume at heavyweight but I think his key wins make up for it

 

Usyk is an ATG boxer, and yes enters the top 10 of all time for both Cruiserweight and Heavyweight divisions. One of the best boxers of the 21st century thus far.

 

Wladimir Klitschko certainly cleaned out the division and had an iron grip on it for about 10 years.

 

People who never became undisputed are generally not going to be people who I view as clearing a division. There might be some exceptions for black fighters in the colorline era but besides that if you wanna clear out a division you gotta get all the belts.

 

Heavyweight division is different. There's a nostalgic bias that makes them think the heavyweight division can only be strong when americans dominate.