Given that in 52 days it will have been a full calendar year since the American heavyweight contender last fought (dropped twice in the first round and retiring after six minutes with Efe Ajagba, prior to which he was stopped in nearly as short order by Filip Hrgović in 2018), and the fact that a week later will mark a third anniversary since his last actual professional victory (over Travis Kauffman in March of 2017) - we can safely assume the veteran, whose career was interrupted by two separate prison sentences (the first an 8½ year stint for narcotics lasting from 2001 until 2010, and the next a 14 month wrist-slap for a parole violation from late 2011 into early 2013), who is currently not ranked top 15 by any major org and is turning 48 years old in July, and has nothing lined up or even rumored ... is probably finished. He never officially retired after the Ajagba loss, but I don't think anybody is surprised to have not heard any news from him after such a lengthy slump. It has been a mostly luckless half a decade, actually; his last really meaningful triumph came over Joey Dawejko in 2015. He then outfought Gerald Washington - then a young unbeaten prospect that PBC may have viewed as their next HW cash-cow - but was shafted with a draw. Next came yet another opportunity to upset an opponent with an identical 16-0 record to Washington's and regain some momentum, in a fight many of us saw as winnable - but after dropping Breazeale he bit clean through his tongue and had to quit due to resultant injury. Then came squeaking past "My Time" Kauffman, which probably should have been a sign that Hardcore's ability to mix with the best was sputtering out. He could have posted one more nice W, had the clash with the overrated Sergey Kuzmin not been so utterly cursed (it ended with a head clash leading to a TD, later overturned into a No Contest when Moorer popped for buprenorphine). And to cap it all off, the consecutive stoppage losses. So then, with the whole thing in the rearview mirror, what do we make of this plucky ex-con and his staccato ring campaign? How does he compare to 'nearly men' from other eras who never captured heavyweight gold but generally rank favorably among fans in h2h match-ups - like Bert Cooper, Gary Mason, or Calvin Brock? Let's call his best and most exemplary "near-prime" version the competitive defeat to Steve Cunningham.
Really does make you wonder. From his pro debut until his first incarceration gives us nothing to go by, as he fought nothing but tomato cans from '97 until '01. Then he's already 38 by his first return. Started to gain a head of speed with that little run in 2011 (blitzing Raymond Ochieng faster than anybody had aside from Diablo Włodarczyk or Magomed Abdusallamov, then shut out Dominick Guinn, and then stopped Epi Mendoza when it still kinda meant something) only to get busted stupidly for cohabitation with another felon in a trap-house. The fact that he made a second comeback and racked up as many okay wins as he did (KO1's versus Jason Gavern and Dominique Alexander, wide UD over Sugar Mo Harris, late stoppages of Kelvin Price and Fred Kassi, and the aforementioned points affairs over Dawejko and Kauffman) and pushed USS to his limits (even though USS never truly belonged above cruiser, IMO, he was still a capable fringe contender at heavy) is a miracle all on its own. Of course, what should have been his fighting prime also happens to coincide with the K2 era, so there's a good chance he would have been crushed by either Wladimir or Vitali and never held a belt anyway, but still.
I watched his win against Kelvin Price, and followed his career a bit after that. If the dice had rolled slightly differently he could have made some good money and been in some good clashes that he came out of with a W. Unfortunately, he has to go and stand in a corner next to Luis Ortiz and the other HWs who wasted their prime years. Maybe an example to those HWs who are in their mid 20s to mid 30s who are fighting lame opposition once or twice a year. Better to make the most of what you have at the right time, rather than suddenly find yourself in your late 30s trying to take your shot then. "the Sun is the same in a relative way ..." and all of that.
Amir couldn't get good fights during the peak of his comeback..... He has every right to be bitter. Fully believe this guy was swerved by a lot of the top guys like he claims. High risk and super low reward.
Would have been better off at cruiserweight. He started off okay, but the punishment he received from these huge behemoths caused his punch resistance to decline. It's not a division a smaller fighter can afford to stand and trade. Unless your 260lb plus full of lard. Same thing will happen to that scrawny Usyk, the swollen cheek bones against Witherspoon is evidence of that!
Or Light-Heavyweight with the proper diet, most modern Cruisers were naturally bigger than him. 190-Cruiser would have been excellent for him, he would have matched perfectly vs Qawi & Young Holy
GTFO. Dude was usually a few lbs over 220. There is no way it would have been healthy for him to drain down to 175. It's not like he was some fat ****er or overly muscular either.
25yo fully grown Amir Mansour started boxing at 200 lbs, 200lbs with the whole gear on, & 10lbs of 1990s cheap Creatine water, he was surrounded by low-IQ common criminals, who thought of "Big" in a positive manner, so he tried his best to get "Big". He easily could have made 175 if he wanted to, but at that time Mike Tyson-Big payday was on everybody's mind, so obviously handlers & boxers wanted him to get "big" for the big payday
Usyk is small for Heavy, but lets see if he is on Pernell Whitaker skill level & some how he can neutralize Anthony Joshua size advantage Very few boxers were able to fully neutralize boxers size, almost seemed like magic, those were exceptional boxers, they knew how to make size advantage seem as a disadvantage Pernell Whitaker | Ivan Calderon | Nicolino Locche & to a lesser extent SRL | Pep | Floyd If a boxer is not on that Skill-level, every inch counts against them
The bodybuilder is pretty skilled himself gold medal and all. Was out boxing Wlad before he got dropped to his knees.
Anthony Joshua can afford to be a body-builder at 6'7" & adequate frame. The Body-building physique might have worked early in his career, as a psychological deterrent vs boxers who assume muscle = Power, so it wasn't a wasted effort, it did help reduce the chances of getting KTFO earlier. Andy Snickers Ruiz is an out-of-shape boxer whose Gastro-Narcissistic-appetite was balanced off with Fearless-Confidence, Iron-Chin & a high ring IQ, he probably KTFO a couple of Hormonally-Over-Confident-Body-Builders who tried to cut the line in-front of him, so he came into the ring Under-estimating the Olympic Gold Medalist as another Glass-chinned Body builder....Paid off for the first fight & proved him wrong in the rematch. Midgets short on inches, who don't fight in their optimum weight, become food for Elite boxers...
Entertaining fighter and gave us some really fun fights but limited and too small to mix it with the big boys
