Yeah he looks so much more springy here, 8 years ago after 14 rounds of sparring apparently. On another forum I got into an argument with some people over Usyk slowing down. They just refused to believe it, eventually calling me a hater etc. But I didn't know what to say when one can just look with their eyes and see he has no where near the speed he used to.
He’s had the IQ to evolve as he’s gotten older. But of course at nearly 40 and after hundreds of competitive bouts and camps he isn’t physically what he was. We never got prime Usyk at Heavyweight which underlines his ATG status even more.
Didn't need to see prime Usyk, he beat the next best man of the era twice. Both were declined at that stage but both showed utter class in moments far beyond their peers and showed what a world class ATG heavy can do with skills not just power punching plodding around. In theory what would a prime Usyk look like anyway? Because he changed his style and conditioned his body over many years to be where he is at HW now. Traded hand speed and stamina for power and strength slowly and it so happens trading them attributes out with age works out well.
Much like Ali in the 70s, he is rugged and smart enough to handle the slowdown and still be great. But he's gotta fight Joe!
I refuse to believe I'm slower than when I was in my 20's. I'm an idiot for doing so, as was that forum
Nah beating Joshua was fun and games. That first up and under jab in round 1 was the fight over and done with.
How long have I been telling everyone this? Since when Usyk was still down at CW He's slowed down loads. I've been a fan of his since 2008, 17 years, and I've seen many different versions of him. Watch him as an amateur, WSB, pre-title run at CW, at CW reign, HW, HW reign. He looks different or a bit different. He used to throw scything uppercuts, lead uppercuts, that were fast, fluid, smooth and effortless. He used to counter with really sharp fast backhands. The combinations were faster, much more fluid and accurate and his reflexes and reaction times much faster. He's had a lot of different trainers over the years and in just 24 fights and, as said, you can even see very noticeable differences between pre-title Usyk at CW and the CW reign one. Well, not just 24 fights because he's been working with his current trainer since the Bellew fight IIRC. Even in the WSB at SHW he looks very different as he has at HW in the pros This content is protected I saw someone the other day arguing that because Belly was able to do something to Usyk, ergo another HW great from a previous era would be able to do worse vs Usyk. Yes, that's what we do when it comes to Uysk and certain other fighters. We pit prime versions of them vs a 37-38 y/o version of him who has clearly slowed down a lot