Oleksandr Usyk would be a very hard nights work for Muhammad Ali. His movement, speed, and southpaw stance would give Ali fits.imo.
Usyk is a full time, well conditioned athlete. He had a lot of experience at the top level of world class amateur boxing, he is a southpaw, he is fast, he has great footwork, he is physically strong...IMO, nobody would have an easy fight with Usyk. I don't see many advantages for Ali against Usyk. If Ali was brought into the current era and had the dedication to train like Usyk it would probably even up. It's just a different time and a different way of training. In Ali's time, training consisted of a jog, "floor exercises" (a few push ups and sit ups), heavy bag, speed bag, sparring. The old time trainers knew nothing about strength training, and that limited their fighters. Usyk trains his whole body for strength which makes him quick and durable. He also does plenty of boxing specific work. Athletes in all sports are quicker and stronger, Usyk is at the tip of the spear in training. This content is protected
Lol Ali did fight in the modern era. He fought Foreman who fought in he same era as Wladimir Klitschko who was champion up until a few years back. Wladimir Klitschko also lost to guys like Corrie Sanders who turned pro in the 80's. Lost to guys like Ross Purrity who turned pro in the 90's. Wlad also fought some of the same fighters Foreman faced doing this era. For example a older Foreman fought Everett "Bigfoot" Martin 9 years before Wlad did and beating him easier. So athletes in sports are not getting quicker and stronger. Human being have limits to what they can do when it comes to athleticism. Unless you are saying Wladimir Klitschko wasn't good for modern standards. Anyway Ali would struggle with any guy who could box. Ali struggled against 180 pound Doug Jones for crying out loud. Ali's best wins in his career were beating a old overrated Sonny Liston, getting lucky against George Foreman, Beating Frazier after Foreman smashed him and getting gift wins against Norton. Usyk has yet to beat any heavyweight as a pro. Even if he does this era for heavyweight is pretty poor. Either the guys are on PED's or they are fat.
I think Usyk could give almost any HW in history something to think about in the skills department. I'm keen to see how durable he is down the stretch, though.
I never bought into the Joshua hype. He was always an underwear model masquerading as a boxer, to me.
Did people learn nothing from when Ali was put on his ass by Henry Cooper? Or when Schmeling destroyed Louis? Or when Spinks beat Holmes? Or when Rahman flattened Lewis? Or when Sanders blitzed Wlad? Joshua could still be in potentially very good company That said, I'm not apologetic about being excited about Usyk. The HW division today is dire, and I for one am all for some excitement being brought back to it.
To be fair, you have a point in that his actual skills are not exceptional and that he in no way is as good as his more fanatical and deluded supporters suggest. On the other hand, he's beaten some pretty good fighters along the way and you don't get to his record by being average. Let's see how it pans out. I'm not writing him off either
You talk as if there is some sort of equivalence between these losses, and what happened to Joshua! Different level of upset altogether!
I talk as if a bad loss can happen to anybody and that we ought not write a fighter off just because he lost one. If AJ comes back and wins 6/6 on the trot people will be stabbing each other for a place on his nuts again. That's also the unfortunate flipside of the boxing community ... give a guy a couple of good wins and he's elbowing the ATG's off their perches. I'm calling for a little perspective, that's all.
I am not writing Joshua off yet, because he did have some very tangible accomplishments before the loss. You don't unify three belts without being an exceptional fighter. Even so, his loss is a salutary lesson not to make grandiose claims, about fighters who are still active!