Is Usyk ducking Kabayel? (VIDEO)

I’m not sure you know what you would do if you were *exactly* in his position. A lot happens outside the ring.

 

A little bizarre considering that Patterson didn't fight Machen or Foley, but to each their own.

I don't mean to insult Louis, but even he had his problems fighting the black contenders of his day--Bivins, Murray, Ray, Thompson, Franklin...
I am not saying they were #1 or anything, but they were there and lesser men got shots. So we should probably be honest about the fact that there are very few guys who fought everybody. Usyk was one of the best for most of his career, and deserves to be remembered as one of the the good guys.

POST SCRIPT: Bivins did have #1 contender status and Franklin and Ray had similar "logical contender" status various years.

 

I just wish some of the whingeing DHs would read this, and watch some of the fights you mention. I worship nobody, but Usyk demands respect from any serious boxing pundit due to his achievements both in and outside the sport, fairness, and apparent decency as a human. There has always been a glut of weak non-achievers all too ready to dive their metaphorical boots into tall poppies who dared and won like Usyk, Ali, and that Greek bloke going back a couple of millennia, Alexander the something or other.

 

My point re Usyk, Louis and Patterson is that they may not be ATG top heavies, Louis excepted, but they are ATG top boxing human beings. For me those three are the epitome of the saying 'the best MAN won'. Regardless of their records and how history ends up judging them, they are all remarkable people, Patterson and Usyk edge Louis in this respect for me...

 

Patterson famously went to visit Sonny Liston when Liston watched the title. He told, him, and I paraphrase a bit, here, "It's going to be all right, Sonny, One day you are going to wake up and it is just going to be better."

Touching that he, twice humiliated by Liston, was the only person who cared about him in that moment.

 

Plenty of guys fight 2 to 3 times these days so that's nonsense

You do realize Joshua fought twice in 2024 and a whooping three times in 2023 I assume?

 

The most marketable guy in the sport outside of maybe Canelo? That guy? Compared to a fuggin' Ukrainian who doesn't speak English well? And AJ wasn't fighting top level guys, either, now was he. You're saying Kabayel is such a bum he's on the level of a Wallin or a Ngannou or a Helenius?

 

Let's see how many fights Kabayel fought every year:

2026: Knyba
2025: Zhang
2024: Sánchez
2023: Smakici, Makhmudov
2022: Sour
2021: Johnson
2020: Lazaridis
2019: Rudenko
2018: Rovcanin

It seems Kabayel has fought once a year in last 8 years, and all his opponents were outside top 30, and now he is crowned as the WBC heavyweight champion! Incredible!

 

He did. There's no question about that now. But I give him a pass since he's at the very tail end of his career and he had the decency to drop the belts when he knew he had no intention of defending them. The Rico fight was BS. We can all agree on that. But it was only one fight. Up until that contest, Usyk had always fought the best of the best at every opportunity, both at cruiserweight and then again at heavyweight. If he wants to opt out of serious fights now and just quickly cash out with a few more paydays, I won't begrudge him for doing that.

Still, I don't understand why he's doing it at this point. He's accomplished just about every thing he could possibly could in the sport of boxing. He's made millions and millions of dollars. Does he really need more money? Maybe he really does love the sport that much and wants to get that feeling of competition a few more times before he's finally forced to call it quits for good. But I think that's a dangerous game he's playing at this point, and it would be better for his near immaculate legacy and his health to just call it a day while he's still on top. He's a grown man, though, so he can do what he wants.

 

What does Kabayel have to do with the fact that many fighters fight 2 to 3 times per year?

 

The "problems" in HW started when Norton became the WBC champion without beating Ali or Leon Spinks.
The "problems" in HW continue through Holmes, who never became WBA champion (nor undisputed), and later renounced the WBC title in favor of the new IBF federation...
Don't be surprised by Bowe throwing the WBC belt in the trash can, or Usyk's actions, or anything in the interim (between Norton and Usyk); "problems" started at least 50 years ago.
I only superficially examined the problem, and IMHO the problems, at least in the theoretical sense, started with the appearance of the second belt, ie. during the reign of Joe Frazier.
One belt, one champion = lineal champion.

 

We should appreciate Oleksandr Usyk while we still have him, alphabet belts or no alphabet belts. He has convinced me he is one of the greats.