Anyone surprised that Usyk totally outshone Lomachenko?

No because it was two years since Walters had looked good against Donaire and he was lucky to not lose against Sosa.

By the time the two did fight the fight had lost a lot of luster and better fights were there to be had against the likes of Vargas, Moira or a rematch with Salido.

It was a good fight, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't on the level of Glowacki.

 

He picked up a paper belt from Lewis by schooling Holyfield because Lewis didn’t want to fight him.

Beating a favoured Vitali in Germany and having Vitali avoid the rematch is his biggest accomplishment.

Beating a favoured Tua, who annihilated Ruiz and Moorer in a combined 50 seconds, is his second biggest.

His post-Holyfield run took a lot of shine off his accomplishments. It made him seem much of a muchness with a bunch of 2nd rate K2 contenders. He could have been “the last great American HW” for years and “an incredible P4P talent”.

He must have been a huge underdog when he fought Wlad in the rematch, his status as “No.1” with Ring would have been seen as a technicality at best, if not solely a product of corruption.

 

Exactly, an Holyfield that Lewis had twice beaten. A Holyfield who had fought for another paper belt previously against Ruiz. A Holyfield who was about to get knocked out by James Toney.

Byrd had beaten Tua, but Tua hadn't beaten Moore at that point. And Ruiz had no credibility at that point neither.

His post Holyfield run is the whole basis for his legacy. You keep talking about what he could have been, we saw exactly what he was. A man who consistently defended his title against super heavyweights and a man who was the number 1 ranked HW in the world.

Wlad was a favourite, but he had to beat Byrd to be the best in the world.

At this point K2 weren't even a big deal. Vitali had retired and Wladimir was a joke.

I'm Byrd's biggest fan on here and that's why I find it astounding you would want to deny him his place at the top of the mountain, a place that puts him in a very exclusive category.

 

Not really the bigger guy will outshine the smaller guy if they do similar things. Almost like Ali and Sugar ray robinson Ali style was heavily influenced by Sugar in my opinion Sugar was better as he was more versatile but everyone talks more about Ali than Sugar.

 

A Holyfield who had just beaten Lewis-conqueror Rahman.

Tua beat Moorer before Byrd beat Holyfield and Ruiz had gone 1-1-1 with Holyfield by that point.

His HOF case is far stronger if he retires in mid-2003. He’s got the 2nd best record of Lewis’s era, with Lewis dropping a belt to avoid him and fighting Byrd’s victim instead. He’s the last top pre-K2 American HW, despite being a smaller man than Moorer. It would be a great legacy, plus he wouldn’t have sacrificed his health chasing illusory success while past his best.

As it stands it’s controversial whether Byrd’s record is more or less HOF-worthy than Povetkin’s. If Byrd retires at the optimal time then he has two wins considered better than anyone Povetkin beat (or Povetkin himself in Vitali’s case, maybe Tua too), as well as being a WBO and IBF champ, with just two losses, no draws and nothing remembered as controversial. There would be no debate that Byrd had a better record than Povetkin, as well as Moorer (who is in the HOF) and many others.

 

Well a 39 year old Holyfield who headbutted to death a Lewis victim in Rahman.

I'm on about at the time Byrd beat Tua.

You're just not getting it. If he retires after Holyfield he's just someone who won a vacant belt but was never the best HW in the world. He retires with a bunch of ifs, what's and maybes. Instead we saw exactly what he was capable of achieving and that's finding a place at the pinnacle of the division. You're suggestion is incredibly sub optimal and as Byrd's biggest fan on this site I find it baffling.

 

The same as Loma or worse.

 

Doesn't change what I said and what I felt at the time - Loma wilted under the physical pressure and it's also shown in other fights. Simple as that.

Usyk is far superior in that regard.

 

What is "the other side"?

 

Not really, Lomachenko's natural weight classes sucked at the time and his style (or well even his opponents' styles/athleticism) doesn't mesh as well as Usyk's for fighting bigger guys, where he kind of uses it as his strength if anything. I still think Lomachenko is the better fighter if you put him against guys his own size.

 

He didn't wilt under anything though against Salido he got cheated he was fighting against an opponent who cheated on the scales weighing in as a Welterweight who was the allowed to low blow all night long and should've been DQed.

And when Loma could've stopped him in the last round when he had him hurt the referee didn't penalize Salido for excessive holding and allowed him to hold on like an octopus.

That's not what I call folding under pressure that's called corruption.