FANTASY FIGHT: Oleksandr Usyk vs Vitali Klitschko (15 Rounds/Poll)

Agreed.

 

I don't really know about this. If I was betting money I'd put it on Vitali, but I think it would be razor close I could see a draw and neither guy would be robbed.

 

In actual fact it isn't an easy pick by any means. Usyk is easily P4P better. If they were the same size it would be easy. He'd win. But Vitali is not only much bigger but he knows how to impose his size better than anybody I have seen. His timing is simply superb and he has the ability to guage the incoming punches down to the millimetre. Moreover, the same as Usyk, he doesn't get tired and has a fantastic chin. Their workrate is both high.

Usyk has the better fighting brain and if there's a way to solve the Vitali puzzle he'd find it. I'm just not sure that Usyk's amazing lateral movement is the solution to Vitali simply stepping back and lengthening the engagement distance. Usually speed is the solution to these big guys. I'd have said that Usyk's better speed might be the key to unlock this door.

That is, if I hadn't seen the Sanders fight. Sanders landed on pretty much everybody, nobody could evade his southpaw / straight left / speed cocktail of death. Except Vitali. In the first round where Vitali was intent on taking the fight to Sanders, Corrie managed to bang him up. After Vitali realised that the game wasn't worth the candle, and reverted to a counterpunching boxing mode, Sanders had great difficulty in landing much of consequence. Somehow Vitali managed to make Sanders whiff air over and over and caught him in return. His sense of distance is uncanny.

So, while I am in no way writing Usyk off, gun to the head, I'd pick Vitali.

 

This is a fight I've never given much though too and is potentially a classic. Usyk likes to set the pace and works well off the back foot, but he also likes breathers when he wants. Vitali is one paced but its a fast pace. He won't allow Usyk to have these little breathers. Both are superbly conditioned athletes at their peak and my gut says over 12 Usyk wins a razor thin decision, but over 15 Vitali takes a similarly close win. In a trilogy it would have to be 1-1-1...This is a super close fight between two H2H greats.

 

No you're not.