Usyk says 2-3 more fights before he retires

OK, name me the fighters ranked in top 10 who are better boxers than Dubois, AJ and Fury.

 

Wilder is not the fight most want to see, but I can understand Usyk's desire to make that fight.
We had three claimants to being top dog when Usyk entered the division and they had been the 'kings' for some time.

Usyk beat two of them twice each (and in between times KO'd another top five contender twice), and he wants to round out his dominance of the division.

If he were to follow up a Wilder fight with Kabayel and Wardley, it would be a complete and thorough cleaning out of the division, and make him the top dog of his era, and a lock for top 15 all-time.

 

Holy lost to Bowe and Moorer ( and Ruiz), and twice to Lennox.

By the time he reached Usyk's age, he had amassed five losses.

 

How would anyone know? That would require actually fighting them

 

Losses are inevitable the more fights you have and the longer you fight. Bringing up past prime losses seems silly though.

Holyfield could have retired earlier and avoided those losses

 

That's why I said "By the time he reached Usyk's age,"

And he was prime when he lost to Bowe.

 

"Father time is undefeated." But he ain't fought Usyk yet.

 

I think Usyk has already "soft retired" like Ali did.

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So, according to you, Joey Dawecko may be better than Usyk, because we've never seen them fight each other?

 

The number of ranked opponents faced is not the only measure for greatness, especially without context.

Firstly, Usyk fought 300+ amateur fights, winning world champs and Olympic gold. Are we including those ranked opponents? Usyk also took the zero off Glowacki, Briedis, Gassiev, and Fury, while AJ had avenged his defeat to Andy Ruiz while Dubois had lost to Joe Joyce.

Secondly, Usyk has almost always fought the best fighters, often in their hometown, and unified divisions one belt holder at a time. The others you mentioned cherrypicked single easy fights and did not unify as they were avoiding difficult opponents.

 

People age differently so that seems like a questionable criteria.

Pre Bowe he already had a heavyweight resume similar to Usyks. I've never seen anyone suggest that he had proved himself a great heavyweight by that stage. So why the different criteria for Usyk?

How is beating Dubois, Joshua, Fury different from beating Dokes, Douglas, Foreman, Holmes? They seem similar to me.

 

Dokes was a decent win for Holyfield.

Douglas ?
He came in looking like an over-fed elephant.
A one-trick pony who fell apart after that one trick.

Holmes and Foreman ?
Didn't they get free tickets to that fight for their grand-kids ?

The four fights you listed for Holy are nothing like the five you listed for Usyk.

 

Given Usyk was 33 when he moved up to heavyweight, i would say he has done about the best anyone could in his situation. Fury delayed fighting him for at least 1 year. He beat the two guys considered the two best post Wlad heavyweights - Joshua and Fury twice, and then a good though not exceptional contender in Dubois twice.

I will be disappointed if he fights Wilder but given he started at 33, he has managed to accomplish as much as humanly possible in 6 years at heavyweight.

 

That version of Douglas looks no less out of shape compared to modern heavyweights.