Usyk is good but he hasn't remotely demonstrated that his ring IQ is equal to Mayweather's. He's already in his mid 30's he isn't going to suddenly get way better.
How much better does he need to get ? He moved up a ton of weight and twice defeated a younger, bigger , stronger champion ... Mayweather cherry picked name opponents at the times that best suited him .. to compare him to Usyk, Mayweather would have had to move from 135 or 140 to 147 and fought Ray Leonard or Tommy Hearns in their primes ...
I wasn't saying Usyk needs to get much better. I'm saying the gap in ring IQ between Usyk and Mayweather is pretty much set in stone at this point because Usyk isn't going to suddenly get way better in his mid 30's. That's all. Mayweather has a better resume and better ring IQ, that isn't even up for debate.
It is clearly up for debate as we are debating .. who are the best fighters Mayweather defeated in their primes at higher weight classes ? Mayweather has a terrific resume as far as names go but from 140 and up he was brilliant in surgically selecting opposition when they were ripe .. that aside, Mayweather was the greatest self promoter in the history of the sport .. he made hundreds of millions because he hit the pads in an exciting , unique manner in all of the HBO hype pre-fight build up shows of the time .. it's interesting because in the ring he was cautious, safety first and not exciting , certainly no more so than a Whitaker, a Holmes or a Hopkins .. he was a brilliant brander of the money mystique .. credit to him but he never, ever took on the sort of challenges that Usyk has done ...
I don't think Wilder hits Usyk once in an entire fight .. as far as Fury goes, it is all about the ref .. Fury got way with a ton ( pun intended ) by the way he hung all over Wilder in their fights using his bulk to wear the man down ... it was extreme ... it will be interesting to see because Usyk is faster than Fury and has a higher punch output .. interesting matchup ..
Usyk was fighting the hardest hitting two handed puncher on the planet and late in the fight, when AJ, still a terrific and now horribly underrated fighter , was coming on strong and rallying, fighting for his own career and life .. Usky was actually trading shots , taking the initiative against a much bigger guy .. and he took a couple of flush shots while taking the aggressive and fighting ... I don;'t view that as bad defense or being suspect to a right hand ...
Floyd is the greatest fighter with greatest ring IQ of his era, and probably several other eras as well. Absolutely brilliant boxer & a handful for just about any ATG.
Loved the adjustments Mayweather made against Judah and Calzaghe made against Kessler. Both were Jofre-esque.
Yes. AJ proved that he's a very good fighter, but Usyk was still better, despite giving up a great deal of size
Who knows, but Usyk gets points from me for always doing it in the danger zone. Even when giving up lots of size. Floyd rarely, if ever, gave up reach.
Though Mayweather Jr.s competition wasn't that great. He defeated by far better competition than Usyk. Usyk is a one trick pony who's biggest assets at Cruiser and Heavyweight is weak competition.
