Usyk is almost 35 years old after a long and extremely successful amateur career, unifying the cruiserweight division and taking preparation fights at heavyweight. He's probably 3 years past his absolute prime at this point and fights on the road every time, now as an ex-cruiser with unremarkable power even at his former weight. Hearn has a rematch clause so Usyk would have to beat AJ twice, probably by KO to avoid being robbed on the cards and I imagine this would add considerably to the wear and tear, along with aging to about 36 before he could even theoretically fight Fury for undisputed. Fighters like Usyk who depend on speed and reflexes also don't age as well as monsters like Joyce. If Usyk was to stop an elite super-heavyweight in AJ on September 25th, he would have achieved something an order of magnitude more impressive than ATG Holyfield, who couldn't really beat Bowe on a level playing field or Lewis at home over 5 fights, let alone stop them, got dropped several times and stopped himself. In so far as P4P means anything, Usyk would have to be number 1. People can theorise that so and so 6'2, 210 lbs heavyweight from the distant past would have beaten post-90's skilled and athletic super-heavies but post-prime Usyk away from home would be the only man to really do it, which would have to make him an ATG HW. And it wouldn't be a lucky punch victory but a prolonged deconstruction ending in a stoppage.
All of the cruiser champions who have tried have failed. Holyfield came closest but he was still beaten conclusively, every other cruiser champ's attempt against elite super-heavies has been woeful. Usyk is a few years past his prime, will be fighting away with the deck totally stacked against him and wasn't even a puncher at 200 lbs, so beating (aka stopping) AJ would be a unique ATG pound for pound win.
Too early, he'll have to do it at heavy to be considered yet, We'll come back to this discussion after AJ ko's him.
You could've asked the same about Juan Carlos Gomez, Alfred Cole, David Haye, Tomasz Adamek and any number of dominant cruiserweight champions at the moment they decided to move up. Probably depends on how he does at heavyweight. There have been more guys than those I brought up who seemed like they were on their way when they were cruiserweights. Then they make the jump, and they become cannon fodder. Haye even won a heavyweight title and beat some paper heavyweight champs. Usyk hasn't even done that yet. David Haye will be eligible for the Boxing Hall of Fame in two years. Will he be on the ballot? Will he get in on the first ballot? Being the best (or second best) sounds good, but if you are second best in a historically weak division ... like cruiserweight ... other factors come into play. Like did you move up to heavyweight and fail badly, or were you successful there, too? Beating Chisora and Chazz Witherspoon hasn't really told us anything. Probably still to be determined.
Nope but I definitely consider him a a hall of famer. If he can pick up a strap at HW or better yet, become undisputed by some miracle he's definitely an ATG and around the same level of Evander Holyfield.
Boxing history would look very different indeed if all your favs, the greats, and just world class fighters in general fought on the road or in their opponent's backyards all the time with zero home officials working their fights or even just occasionally for many of them, which Usyk has done religiously since he stepped up to world level. Very different indeed.
I know amateur pedigree is not included for atg status but when you look at his career as a boxer I absolutely have him as an atg. He looked a level above at CW. If he beats Joshua that would cement him as a true legend up there with Pacquiao in the modern era. Only question mark I have for him at HW is how he looked against Chisora, can't help but feel that Holyfield would have battered Chisora into a bloody pulp. Of course that won't matter if he beats Joshua.
My only answer now has to be unknown, especially at Heavyweight. IF he is good enough he MAY become an ATG at Heavyweight. He is 34 years old now. I'm not at all sure that age means what it used to mean. Some day soon, discussions on this forum may mention age reduction and is it fair to compare fighters who don't age or even get younger DNA methylation ages with fighters who never had that advantage? Usyk may end up fighting for a long time yet. We are in the beginning of some astonishing things in that field, IMHO, of course.
An Olympic gold medalist who unified his division? Of course he’s an ATG, the best could be yet to come
No not yet. Let us see what he has achieved at the end of his career, don't get me wrong i like Usyk but he is only an 18 fight pro, a mere novice when you consider fighters from different eras. In his first 8 pro fights his opponents had 55 losses between them which says a lot. So lets reserve judgement on this ATG stuff just for now.
No. He didn't beat any significant contenders yet. He should beat AJ, Tyson Fury, Andy Ruiz, Dillian Whyte and Deontay Wilder to be an ATG.
