Why did Rico's size seem to bother Usyk more than the other giants he fought?

Rico had zero recent boxing history and came in very much an unknown quantity, augmented by the training of a master tactician in Peter Fury. It took nearly the whole fight and fatigue for another boxing genius in Usyk to find him out.

 

Because the other giants Usyk faced are shithouses and came in with predictable game plans.

 

If you look at what he did, he was just far more effective at knowing how to use his size, weight, and momentum.

also, guys, watch some of Rico’s kickboxing fights (I’ve only just now done this). He’s a bad mother****er, and has multiple times come back from WAY worse off than Usyk had him to pull off a win.

also, that league he fights in has permissive as hell refs. One fight I saw featured Rico busting up a guy’s shin so bad that it was pouring blood all over the canvas, the guy busting up Rico’s face so bad he had one eye shut, with blood pouring all over his face, and Rico coming back from a bad knockdown to absolutely drown the guy and stop him with superior stamina.

another had Rico (likely) fracturing a guy’s shin early on, the guy landing a spinning back fist that knocked Rico on his ass, Rico getting up and stumbling all over the place (yet the ref just lets him continue on), then Rico stopping him via getting 4 knockdowns as per the rules in that league.

wildly entertaining stuff. And Rico is crazy.

 

Because the other guys tried to box with him at mid range like playing the lead hand game with him

 

He's an elite tier heavyweight athlete with crazy toughness.

Because he's dutch, he got stuck with kickboxing instead of basketball or some other big man sport.

 

Preparation - probably very little footage of Ricco actually boxes. Same with Ngannu Vs Fury you can prepare to box to a plan but if the other guy is doing something different than expected it takes time to adjust.
The lads that come from kick boxing often have very high stamina basis so he was able to keep applying pressure more so than someone like AJ who has be mindful of the gas tank as seen in the Wlad fight.
Mid rounds is usually where Usyks accurate punching and movement take over but he was under more pressure than usual and punches weren't find the gaps in the same way
Maybe a bit under trained or starting the first real obvious decline he looked a little fleshy

 

In a nutshell, nobody except his team knew how he would tackle Usyk, and Peter Fury is a genius trainer. So he came out and gave Usyk a very tough contest, that took one of the best boxers ever to glove up, and his team, 11 rounds to get on top of.

 

It's honestly as simple as Rico refusing to take a backwards step and reset. He never gave up his space. He pushed his momentum instead of letting Usyk take control.

Add to the fact that this ultra energetic, high work rate style is very rare at HW. The closest for Usyk was Chisora, but he's slow as molasses, has a lower work rate and gives up his positioning regularly. So people saying Usyk was facing an unknown style (for him) are right imo.

 

Two things

1) Rico did not fight in awe of Usyk or show him respect. Fury and Joshua really did not attempt to impose their size on him outside of maybe their length with the jab. Neither every tried to rush or bully him and get inside and make it a fight. Rico was perfectly willing to put his head down and go to work. Fury is awkward defensively but Rico is awkward offensively. Plus Usyk is not a power puncher and Rico was able to take the counters and come forward

2) Usyk was not in the best shape at a career high weight. I watched the fight recently, long after it happened live and read the opinions. I thought Rico came out and swept the first 3 rounds before Usyk finally caught him in the 4th. He went to work trying to follow up on the damage but seemed to tire a little. Usyk took a breather after the assault in round 4 and lost most of the rounds after.

 

It still amazes me that people haven't woken up to what happened.

Go back watch the fight but don't watch the punches, only watch the footwork

This was the first time I've seen Usyk completely outmaneovered with footwork

Verhoven all night got his front left foot on the outside of Usyks front right foot, he forced Usyk to circle the wrong way the entire fight

Usyk is always the master of footwork, Joshua 1 a prime example of making the fighter circle his way.

Verhovens elite footwork, combined with physicality and unorthodox fighting style was the key to the whole fight

The actual guard and style Verhoven fought also meant that Usyks brilliant faints and pressure that exhausts many was ineffective v Usyk, Verhoven was the one who dictated and had the better angles because of his own footwork

 

Because Usyk was sparring for 9 rounds and barely trying. God you're all dumbasses

The most artful offensive and defensive heavyweight boxer can barely land a punch on a guy with basic defence over 10 rounds, yet landed regularly on one of if not the most defensively skilled heavyweight in Fury. Usyk never upped gears or even tried to up gears for that matter

I'm embarrassed for this forum.

 

Also the usyk fans have been utterly classless

We've watched Joshua, Fury, Dubois give Usyk full credit for years when Joshua and Fury fans have much better excuses for their fighter being shot etc

As soon as Usyk has a bit of trouble, instead of giving full credit they cry like little bitches.

Mark my words, usyk will look a million dollars in his next fight, he got out maneuvered stylistically with his feet against Verhoven, give him the credit he deserves instead of looking utterly classless worshipping your hero