Reality Check Time! Oleksandr Usyk is Still The P4P Number One Fighter On The Planet. This Is Why...

Usyk is the champion in the division.

 

Canelo looking the way he looked will be pushed as Bud dismantling him down to the last atom, much like him beating Spence, but an eye-test always tells when a fighter is truly dancing on the tightrope to outfox a force of an opponent in front of him, not expose a shell. Bivol-Beterbiev I and II come to mind.

 

Hilarious emotional rant because Crawford beat Canelo. I'm sure Usyk isn't crying because Crawford won. We can't expect everyone to have the same class as Usyk.

 

I appreciate both fighters accomplishments. Crawfords clear victory over Canelo was as pleasing as Uysk's clear victories over a massively overrated Fury. Not a big fan of the p4p stuff....but I rate Uysk higher for who he has beat and how he has got there. Sometimes boxing is about being in the right place at the right time......and Crawford definitely was against Canelo

 

I like to reduce it down as much as possible and in my mind current p4p has to take into account recency a lot more than most commenters have it.

As a result Crawford is the number 1 current p4p for moving up to weight classes and beating a p4p unified champ. Though knowing Crawford he will probably be inactive for a while and slip down.

For overall lifetime p4p I would still have Usyk above Crawford because of his asterisk free career and because Cruiserweight to Heavyweight is the hardest weight jump in the sport and Usyk gave up a lot of weight to his opponents.

While Crawford hasn't given up much weight historically and has asterisks on his career.

 

I probably place more emphasis on undisputed than most. I don't think we had a 3 weight undisputed champion in 3 belts era, doing that in 4 belts era is insane. And Crawford did that while being frozen out of the scene by PBC for 5 years.

Also I firmly believe that even the current Canelo is a better p4p fighter than any versions of Fury and Joshua, maybe except for Dusseldorf Fury in 2015 but that was 1 fight against an aging opponent with whom he ducked the rematch.

It's not Usyk's fault that he doesn't have any other divisions to conquer, and I still say they're neck and neck as far as legacies are concerned. But gun to my head, I'd edge Crawford based on sheer numbers.

 

Stupid question perhaps but could Usyk drop to Bridgerweight and clean it out? Or is there no point as there is no prestige in that division?

 

I agree with some aspects of what you've wrote. And as always even the bits i disagree with, i have to hand it to someone willing to invest that much time and energy into articulating a boxing argument.

I do agree that once you get past the immediately hype, you have to consider Usyk above Crawford.

However Inoue above Crawford i don't agree with.

Both have aspects that they've dominated and utterlt cleaned out divisions that seem to be lacking in name worth. But Crawford has Porter, Spence and Canelo and the totality of those 3 gives him a very slight edge.

An edge that however slightly, I just dont know if Inoue can overcome.

 

None whatsoever. Hell, does anyone even fight in that division right now? Who is the champ? I just remember Okolie's sorry ass went there to beat some nobody so he could claim he was a champ before he moved up to HW.

 

And yet there was undoubted serendipity on Canelo's behalf in becoming undisputed at 168. I frowned when many proclaimed him P4P #1 as the likes of Smith, Saunders and Plant were real plain janes compared to what had been. Would Canelo have gone 0-3 against Kessler, Froch and Ward? He has no wins over fighters with that blend of size, ability and mental strength. Did someone whisper Jacobs? It remains his best uncontested win. So many super-middles in the past would be favoured over him. Canelo was absolutely not, despite the 'Thanos collecting infinity stones' rhetoric, all that at super-middle.

Crawford's win, while brilliant, also says a lot about the Mexican many have now removed from their top ten of all time.

 

For me P4P should be this mythical idea of, if these dudes were the same size then who wins. Who's more talented, biggest heart, who's the more special fighter. It's clearly Usyk, Crawford and Inoue are next in any order. Was Canelo really even bigger than Crawford physically? Usyk is beating up giants at heavyweight, massively bigger men.

 

Yea, I agree. Even as a somebody who prefers the higher weights, I don't think it's complete bias to say that the lower weights (under 175) has been quite underwhelming recently.

A lot ducking going on in the low weights. Plus, the fighters this era just seem to be better in the higher weights. Weird. Because when I was growing up 175 and above was far weaker than the lower weights were.

 

The Crawford sausage noshing has been unbearable (even here in UK)... so far I've read he's a top 3 ATG now, that is was the best win of all time & that he would beat the 4 kings.. all based on beating a faded Canelo Alvarez who was never that great to begin with (but especially lately).. Crawfords resume isn't very deep.. all the decent NAMES on it were compromised somehow barring maybe Canelo.

I don't put too much stock in P4P its fiction, but Usyk has been fighting individuals who naturally outweigh him by some margin.. Canelo doesn't outweigh or outsize Crawford.. Crawfords weighed 180lbs for years.. he's never ONCE faced a significant size deficit (what do u think he weighed fight night versus Canelo?!) & anyone who believes he has send your CV over to SNAC, I heard they're looking for a new marketing director.

Usyk is King. He beats anyone in boxing today. That's the reality. P4P isn't.