Now that his career is coming to a close, where would you rank him to the all time greats like Louis and Ali?
Usyk is only a couple wins short of easily cementing himself in that top 10 region but if you come to the party late and then slowly build into the division on meticulous PED cycle (why he fought once a year)...then you fall short.
You can only fight who they put in front of you. Joe Calzaghe had limited opposition but he's still the best Supermiddleweight of all time.
usyk the guy that was getting beat up by a kickboxer and needed corruption to beat him ? NOOOOOO !!!!!! NOT EVEN CLOSE
I'm playing devil's advocate. I think I said after the 2nd Fury fight, he'll find his true place over time, with history taking its course. I think the short run he had at heavyweight, plays in his favour of regard, especially considering what he packed in that run. One thing for sure, he's top 10, for how he operates in the ring, alone!
Of course To quote myself I'm still waiting for someone to name me one fighter in the entire history of the sport who has gone undefeated in 17 years whilst fighting at the elite level for the vast majority of that time Never been knocked out in over 370 fights amateur and pro Never been dropped as a pro or even badly hurt Never been dropped by a headshot amateur or pro with the only possible exception being once which I've recently read was from a body shot Despite running a gauntlet of KO artists and legit bangers, much or way bigger than them at HW and SHW in the WSB Winning all their medals at major championships on the road as an amateur and all their world titles as a pro in their opponent's backyards sans one which was on the road Winning all their fights via pure skill and clean boxing with zero use of dirty tactics and deck-stacking And whilst fighting until 39 y/o and at the elite level until 38 y/o You can subtract a bunch of those and they still going to really struggle And in addition to that he was 4 months shy of turning 35 when he won his first HW title and 37 hen he became undisputed so he was already past or years past his prime when he became champ and conquered the division. Prime faster and more fluid and agile mongoose reflexes and reaction times Usyk does so in a lot easier in more dominant fashion And if he was fighting in most other eras where the HWs weren't these 240-280lb + giant SHWs he wouldn't have had to bulk up to 220-233lbs. The SHW giants of today are not the slow, crude, uncoordinated and unathletic Frankenstein's monsters of certain other eras who didn't even know how to use their range The closest to prime best Usyk at HW was AJ I Mike Tyson was KO'd or stopped x 6 by the time he was Usyk's age and knocked out in the amateurs Lennox Lewis was one punch iced x 2 in the midst of his prime by smaller fighters who Usyk would've boxed the ears off and he was also knocked out in the amateurs In the fight prior to one of his greatest wins Ali was dropped heavily and arguably saved from a KO defeat by the bell vs a Bivol sized Euro level 185lb HW. Ali was also stopped in the amateurs Larry Holmes was viciously knocked out x 2 in the amateurs and stopped another time Louis was badly hurt and was getting outboxed by a 168lb LHW who weighed less than 154-155lb Clenelo Wlad was stopped x 3 in his prime and dropped many times and stopped in the amateurs I can keep going No disrespect to these HW greats and I'm not disputing their greatness but none of those things have ever happened to Usyk even when old and long past his prime fighting savage punchers, giants, and savage punching giants in their backyards and on the road and that counts for something
I am not good with all time rankings but I am thinking for me he maybe falls just outside the top 10.