Sure, but it is true. Look, Fury was a tough fight. There was a couple of rounds in there in which Uysk looked clueless in a way that I have never seen. Usually, when he looses a couple of rounds, he is literally giving them away to time his jab over his opponents. But Fury really had him thinking. Then he figured it out, and it was a relatively easy fight from that point on. Tale of two fights. If they rematch goes through, Fury will be stopped.
Why not just retire though. To me it seems practically anyone right now is a lose lose situation for Usyk, legacy wise. Nothing will improve his legacy all that much, and losing to anyone else right now would significantly tarnish it. He should just retire imo. Very few champions get to retire undefeated, would be cool for him to do so before he experiences significant ability decline. Hes getting old.
It is what he said on a given night. We will see if this is what he consistently says over time. Don't take this the wrong way, because you are a good poster and I know that, but I don't care what you think. I am not trying to convince you of anything. You have a right to it, and you are citing the man. I am just saying that Usyk, as decent and honest a man as he is, might not be above a bit of ulterior motive. Time will tell.
Just take a look at the esteem Lennox Lewis is held in, post retirement. That's simply from retiring on top and he was KO'd a couple of times. Imagine what the worship of the 'Alter of Usyk' would be like!
You are entitled to your opinion but I'm not buying into Usyk having an ulterior motive when saying Fury is his toughest opponent. Usyk comes across as one of the most honest, upfront people in boxing and not someone who says what he thinks people want to hear. As for time changing his opinion. We can't predict the future but what we do know now is Usyk says Fury was his toughest fight.
Fury was obviously tough As he said Chisora hit the hardest And in my opinion the Briedis fight was the closest
I'm pretty sure that's a load of cobblers. Briedis gave Usyk his toughest and closest fight by far; Usyk confirmed it several times. I noticed that Usyk and his whole team are very mindful of what they say about and how they act around Fury in general. Especially now, after Usyk beat him up so badly that the bald coward forgot what year it was, of course he'll say Fury gave him his toughest fight. He wants the rematch. Just remember how Krassyuk thanked Fury 'for his courage' to his face for taking on the fight with Usyk at the presser. I mean, I have been following boxing for over 30 years but have never heard of a manager being grateful for the other guy taking on the biggest paycheck of their lives as well as the chance to become undisputed. Usyk and his team understand that Fury is a narcissist bordering on the psychotic. He needs to be constantly praised and pampered; otherwise, he runs away like a startled fawn in the forest. Just look at how Fury banned talkSPORT from covering his fights. And why? Because they were slightly critical of him once. Just once, after years and years of building him up and showering him with praise, always referring to him as the greatest of his generation and whatnot. Gareth A. Davies and Simon Jordan sounded like unpaid PR officers for Fury. But all that didn't matter after just one show where they offered some slight criticism about Fury's career management. So no, when you outland the guy in 10 rounds out of 12, land more than twice as many high-impact power shots, cause a concussion to the other guy, and only a corrupt referee denies you from knocking him out in the 9th, that's definitely not the toughest fight of your career. You could call it challenging, competitive, and whatnot, but toughest? No way. Usyk and his team are just professionals who know how to play this game. December is still far away, and Fury is an unpredictable, unstable, and fickle character who has a tendency to run from Usyk. They need him for the rematch, so they say whatever they need to say to make sure that Fury won't hide again in Morecambe for two years.
Usyk fought Briedis in 2018 and Usyk may well have said Briedis was his toughest opponent but that was long before he fought Fury and since he fought Fury, Usyk says Fury is his toughest opponent. Usyk is nobody's puppet. He tells it as it is. Always has.
Yes the haters don't want to give Fury credit Usyk was legit hurt and looking lost at times before his second wind in no time was he actually coasting during the fight. He won the fight no doubt, but he looked far worse post fight. His face was all bruised amd mangled days after the fight. There is an agenda on this forum to hype the win like a mayweather masterclass, but it was anything but. He won a tough fight