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

I think you guys are the exception rather than the rule.

I've seen a lot of people downplaying what Rico achieved because "Usyk is shot, AJ/DD KOs Rico blah blah blah" and it's rather embarrassing.

Yes Usyk wasn't at his best, but even that version still beats the rest of the division. Rico is also far more talented than most gave him credit for, myself included. People don't seem to realize both can be true.

 

Off his roids
Lazy camp
Recieving bad mental energy from the mental midget AJ who he has been nursing off his own teet during camp
Ego in underestimating a born and bred fighting man
Fighting gods punishing that ego

Bad combination of many factors

 

Speed, work rate, decent feet changing the angles aggressively etc.

Also Usyk has slowed down, he shifted his style more for power in his last few fights. Works against crude or slower guys but against this guy his earlier career style would have worked better.

 

Bellew is wind a lot of the time but he does translate some gems of actual intelligent observation occasionally. He made the point that Verhoeven fought like a much smaller man, almost taking on a Frazier like posture and rhythm. I recall Peter Fury explaining briefly that he had him hunched over to mask the distance between them and make it difficult for Usyk to fight at the range he is accustomed to enforcing. So a man mountain using educated pressure and able to implement a competent game plan along with the unorthodox aspects I guess was a recipe for a tricky night.

 

Usyk is nearly forty and is a movement based fighter. He fought AJ a long time ago and Fury a few years back now also.
He probably got complacent too. He took the boxing fights very seriously at HW as the threat was real he might get beaten or KO'd.
But after beating the top ones he probably felt invincible.
Also he's at a huge size disadvantage again, which is always an issue to overcome.
Don't be surprised if Fury gets him next time. Every fight is dangerous now. If he keeps fighting younger punchers, that could go bad also.
The kickboxer guy did better than people expected because boxing fans always underrate other combat sports.
There are a lot of factors.
But Usyk being older and a fight away from retiring is probably the most important.

 

Rico's PEDs were better than Usyk's. lol.

 

I'm not an expert, but it seems Usyk struggles when his opponent constantly comes forward and throws punches while doing so.