Yeah, well... you know who is impressed with Usyk? Michael Hunter, the iron chinned guy who Usyk dropped and had out on his feet for the entirety of the 12th round. The same guy who also happened to dominate, maul and ultimately TKO Martin Bakole.
I suspect that he does have better chin than Whyte. Bellew really was legit CW: he won via decision Masternak and had stopped Makabu.
Let's not forget, he KO'd a one legged David Haye twice as well. While that might not mean much after the fact, if given the option, most would have still picked even a one legged Haye to beat Bellew beforehand.
This too yeah but CW division top then was stacked with not old sharks. Looks that oldest lad he had was 33? Like Briedis and Huck in WBSS, Gassiev was young, then Glowacki was 31?. Looks that from top fights in CW he had oldest opponent in 35 y.o Bellew. Now CW too is relatively inactive division. Young up comers does exist, fights happens rarely.
Thanks Nothing I said in that post has anything to do with how I think Usyk vs AJ is going to go. I'm just countering these narratives that Usyk is some featherfist who is incapable of hurting HWs because I've seen him do so with my own eyes, teak-tough ones who have demonstrably better chins than AJ, and I've also seen him drop and stop 270lb giants too. But smaller fighters who possess Usyk's skills and attributes shouldn't be focusing on bulking up and trying to become power punchers if it's going to detract from what makes them so effective and what got them there in the first place. The approach you take to fighting these huge behemoths is to use your speed, skill and elusiveness and counter punching and make them miss and pay. If you're having great difficulty hitting your opponent and being punished with clean counters when you miss it's going to confuse you and make you reluctant to lead and drain you both mentally and physically and you either outpoint them or try to get them out of there late when their gas tanks have depleted. You chop them down like a tree ie. bit by bit. I know none of them are as big and strong as AJ but in terms of chin, single shot punch power, stamina and weight Chisora>>AJ. Not saying he's better than AJ but he certainly takes a better shot, hits harder, has a better gas tank and weighs more than him. AJ is taller, longer, faster, more athletic and a much better combination puncher than Chisora. That in addition to him being way bigger than Usyk is what makes him dangerous. Did you not see Chisora flatten Takam and drop Parker, neither of which AJ could do? Usyk couldn't drop Joyce but Joyce is teak-tough and I can reel off a list of lots of other fighters who couldn't do so either and I'm talking actual natural HWs and giant SHWs who are known for their power in those weight categories and are not blown up CWs who were giving away a ton in weight. Ditto for the teak-tough Chisora. Again, Gassiev and Briedis have never been hurt, let alone dropped or stopped. And as said, they've both shared a ring with murderous punching HWs in the gym like Wlad, Vitali, The Tuscaloser to name but very few. Bashir said Briedis was never hurt by Wlad or Vitali which is rare for anyone who has spared over 30 rounds with them, Wlad speaks very highly of Briedis (''I know exactly how good he is''), and the K brother's chef and camp manager who used to post on here speaks highly of him too. He said he'd seen first hand in the gym how hard Briedis can crack. Briedis sparked a 250lb Charr out cold on his face with a single devastating uppercut, something which none of the HWs Charr has fought have come close to replicating. That was about as spectacular a KO as KOs get. Arreola says Gassiev is the hardest puncher he's shared a ring with and Ben Davison has said that lots of HWs have told him the same thing. It's hardly the best kept secret that Gassiev has flattened highly ranked HWs in the gym Timestamped This content is protected And this from his trainer “The power he has shown me in the gym sparring against [heavyweights Dominic] Breazeale, Charles Martin, Gerald Washington, Chris Arreola, is very real,” Sanchez said. “All those guys, he’s been able to dominate and hurt. Once we get him to the heavyweight division and stabilize him at 225, 230, and put some muscle on those pounds, he’ll be very effective.'' -- Abel Sanchez I've been saying for ages that I think it's a terrible idea for Usyk to bulk up Haye who came up from CW agrees and for the same reasons as I do This content is protected I've also been saying for years that I think Usyk has regressed and that's partially to do with him going through trainers like new shoes. He's gone through five of them in his last eight fights alone and I'm not impressed by the one he had for his last three fights. I think he was at his best with Bashir who had him using his legs, elusiveness and movement more and subsequently he got hit less when he was with him. He sees Usyk as a tremendous talent. There's a reason why Usyk's moniker is The Cat but but you wouldn't know that from watching some of his more recent fights. Citing AJ as being an Olympic gold medalist as evidence of his superiority isn't smart considering he should've lost 50% of his bouts in those games and never should've even got anywhere near the podium. Usyk is a legit Olympic gold medalist but in complete contrast to AJ he was robbed the first time he fought in them. He would've gone onto to win gold in those ones too had he not been IMO and thus be a two time gold medalist. Usyk didn't look great vs Chisora and he did get caught to much but Chisora is a bad style match up for him, gives virtually everyone a very tough nights work, and wasn't close to being shot and he proved that in his next fight against Parker who is arguably AJ's best win over a prime opponent. Most had Chisora beating Parker. And Chisora was in fantastic shape and had a nine month camp for Usyk This content is protected Here's what AJ had to say about sharing a ring with Chisora just 11 months prior to Usyk vs Chisora "I watched the Chisora versus Price fight — I thought 'Why isn't Price controlling Chisora?' Joshua continued to share. "Then I sparred Chisora. The guy is strong, you know. He is no joke. And I give Dillian credit for dealing with him twice. To control Chisora over 12 or 11 rounds takes some doing." Joshua tabbed Chisora for sparring sessions leading up to his rematch against Andy Ruiz Jr. in December, when he defeated the Mexican fighter via a lopsided unanimous decision to regain his unified world heavyweight titles. Those sparring sessions ended in mutual respect between Joshua and Chisora. This content is protected "Look at Derek's knockouts - they aren't when he lands five shots then the ref jumps in. "Boom! Artur Szpilka. "Boom! Carlos Takam. "He hit them with one shot and knocked them out. You can see he carries one-shot knockout power." --Anthony Joshua Yes, I know how old they both are. AJ is smack bang in the midst of his prime, has very little wear and tear due to his short amateur career and shedding some of the muscle and bulk which he did after the loss to Fat Andy has improved him, whereas Usyk is 34, has a lot more wear and tear due to an extremely extensive amateur career, has added bulk which I'm not happy about, has been regressing for years IMO, and been very inactive.
Thanks, versatile article-like comment. It almost convinced me (and probably anyone who reads it) that Usyk can beat Joshua. However, I'm basing my claim "AJ will KO Usyk" on the first 3 rounds of Usyk vs Chisora match. Usyk looked terrible in those 3 rounds. I can't see Usyk beating Joshua after having watched those 3 rounds. No matter Chisora was a bad style match up for Usyk. I am This content is protected sure that Joshua will unload everything he has in round 2 or 3 and will knock out Usyk in a devastating fashion in first 3 rounds, like he did to Klitschko in round 5, and like he did to Ruiz in round 3. And, why haven't we seen any press conferences, face off events, promotions etc about this match so far? Only 7 days left. I feel that it's because AJ, Hearn and Matchroom are already looking past this fight.
