Tim Bradley absolutely smashes Oleksandr Usyk´s legacy

Truthfully... yes. It seeps, right? The seemingly most non-racist nor tribal as possible especially after their retirement in my impression/observation are Holyfield, Foreman, Jones Jr., Tyson. They're seemingly among the more non-biased or most objective as possible out there too when evaluating fighters and making predictions, even if foreigners were pitted against their own nationality.

 

He mentioned Usyk only having 22 fights however a lot of those fights were world title fights.

 

No, AJ is pretty basic.

 

Hard to smash a legacy that’s already set in stone. Bad take for Bradley. as Usyk is definitely an ATG.

 

Am i meant to care what he thinks? He's just upset cos Usyks totally eclipsed his bum boy Ward.. who's held up as the best fighter north of 160 since the Hopkins & RJJ eras by him & many of his US counterparts.. that's really what it is. Usyk, Beterbiev, Bivol etc.. all these fellas are better than Ward.

 

For some people, It comes into play immediately when you get outta bed.
are the xenofoby's in the room with you now?

 

Bradley's just bitter that Usyk managed to reach ATG status in only 23 fights. Usyk's legacy has already been sealed and he can retire at any moment if he really wants to. No one can question Usyk's resume and what he's achieved.

 

I don't care to speculate on Bradley's motives.

What I will note, however, is that tribalism is and always has been an integral part of boxing's DNA. To claim otherwise is to be hopelessly naive or willfully ignorant.

That tribalism can can play a role in the wonderful pageantry and passion of the sport---think of hundreds (thousands??) of British Ricky Hatton fans invading Las Vegas to see their countryman fight, or the profound cultural connection Mexican (and Mexican American) and Puerto Rican fans enjoy with their fighters--makes for a more enriching experience for all of us who love the sweet science.

Yet, tribalism also has an ugly side (racism, bigotry, xenophobia etc) that allows considerations of skin color, geography, religion etc to color perceptions and opinions. No one has experienced that more than African-American fighters.

Do I think Usyk is above criticism? Of course not. Do I think there's a geographic (Eastern European) and racialist component to some of that criticism?

Yeah, I do.

 

Pacman entered the chat.

 

No legacy is set in stone until the end of a career. Roy Jones anyone? If Usyk gets knocked out next fight by Dubois, nobody will be calling him an ATG HW.

 

Jones is a bonafide atg and h2h monster. Also, Usyk is not getting knocked out by Dubois.

 

Bradley is entitled to his opinion, but he didn't explain his position very well imo. In fact his whole argument was basically skim-reading stats and making an appeal to popularity fallacy

There's a reason why boxers don't always make good trainers and good trainers don't always make good boxers, and good boxers/trainers don't always make good boxing scholars

idk if Bradley was speaking from a racial or industry POV, he was just chatting garb

 

Bradley is a fervent company man for TR

 

Boxing is a very North American centric sport imo.

It’s getting better now than it was just a couple decades ago but it’s still very apparent that to be considered something in boxing you’re going to have to be either from NA or make a big splash there.