Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Usyk vs. Ricardo Verhoeven & Frank Sanchez vs. Richard Torrez Jr. RBR.

Idk.... this might be it for me gang. I will probably still glance at boxing here n there because it comes with social media feeds but I think my 23 year run as a boxing supporter is near done.

When a top 3 p4p boxer is practically losing to a kickboxer in a crossover fight, when a heavyweight champion is getting dropped by an mma champion (fury), when the illusion of boxing at its core is exposed by bare knuckle boxing (imo), it becomes hard to see boxing the same.

And these Usyk and Fury fights now mean that I can I never again argue with non boxing fans about the degree of superiority of boxers within their own sport, let alone in a 'real fight'.

Funny how nervous I was for this fight because of everything that was at risk here, Usyks legacy and boxings standing, and it went about as bad as it could outside of Usyk straight up losing, and bad enough that even for me, its going to be hard for me to tune in to boxing knowing these guys can be beaten in their own sport by non boxers.

The only thing is these non boxers are benefiting from that they are fighting non punchers. I do think punchers would change the dynamic and have these guys looking out of their depth, but what does it say when the 'highly skilled' boxers like Fury and Usyk struggle to this degree against non boxers. It makes the craft of boxing look poor, imo.

Boxing will be the laughing stock for quite awhile now in the combat sports realm... it will take a boxer having big event success in mma for things to reach their equilibrium again.

Or, at the very least, having the 'elite' boxers treat the non boxers like they are out of their depth trying to box an elite boxer.

 

How does that generalization apply to a 39 y/o who came in at a career highest weight and was slower and more sluggish than ever before which obviously made a huge difference and him much easier to hit and harder for him to land with his usual speed and accuracy?


He's 39 y/o and, as I've been saying for years, has already slowed down a lot.

I never said he's invincible or that he doesn't have stylistic vulnerabilities my issue is you using the fight of a well past prime 39 y/o who came in at a career heaviest weight and was clearly a lot slower and more sluggish as evidence to support your theory, regardless of whether you're right or wrong about it

He hurt Rico badly in the 4th IIRC when old, slow and sluggish and couldn't capitalize on it like he would in his prime because of how slow and sluggish he looked. Rico looked just as fast as him tonight, do you think that would've been the case with even the Usyk of just a few years ago, let alone a prime Usyk at a much lower weight?

Usyk being that heavy and slow and sluggish made a huge difference both offensively and offensively for him.

Sloppy ass Chisora causes pretty much everyone fits with his relentless pressure style and crazy engine and toughness. Do I need to list all the names of all the boxers who are not from the Soviet school he's caused major problems for? He's still doing it now even when old and way past his best

 

It took him almost 12 rounds to do so. Even the old 225lb version of Usyk who fought Dubois in the rematch was a lot less sluggish than this version we saw tonight and that makes a huge difference