Can someone explain to me, through his resume, why people call Usyk a top 5 ATG?

lol wtf does that even mean? He has only had 8 fights at HW against 5 opponents, and only 24 pro fights in total, how is that a perfect career?

He has only fought 24 times in his whole career and we are comparing him to fighters who fought 50 times? Took twice as much risk? Usyk's body of work is quite shallow and made his name beating up past prime sloths at HW. He has not fought a single mobile fast HW yet.

No serious fan has him in the conversation for HW great. We need to stop pretending he is some dominant HW. He never was. A 24 fight career is poor. Every time you step into the ring, especially at HW you take a big risk vs anyone.

 

One of the most clueless things I have read on here. lol. When did you start watching boxing?

 

Tbf I never thought AJ would stoop as low to fight Jake Paul. Anything is possible.

 

Fighters who've fought 50 times always have a much greater number of bums on their record, and also multiple losses. It's not about how many fights you have, so much as who you beat in those fights and what you accomplish. To take an example, beating Chisora very likely counts for more than beating 30 low level journeymen.

In previous eras Briedis and Hunter would be heavyweights, and fast ones at that. Fury, Joshua and Dubois are all quick for their size, and HW's roughly that big who were also good didn't exist prior to the 90's.

I'd say the great majority on this forum are serious fans and it's a strong consensus that Usyk is a great heavyweight. He's cleared out all of his main rivals in the era, and beaten them multiple times. It's a perfect career thus far.

 

They also have a much greater number of top 10 opponents than Usyk which you seem to ignore. The amount of fights matters because it shows depth of resume. Everytime you fight you risk running into a buster douglas or rahman.

Briedis and hunter were 200lbs, Ray Mercer was 240lbs. Stop the nonsense. Fury AJ and Dubious are slow plodding fighters and easy to hit.

He fought 5 opponents at HW, the best ones AJ and Fury were past their prime. If a serious boxing fans think that makes him a great HW they are just fan boys.

 

I like Usyk, but you are an absolute fool if you are going to say "Wlad is limited". Regarding the training camp story - maybe it is true, but besides Johnny Nelson I don't know of anyone else that mentioned this. It could be true considering we were talking about a 39 year old Wlad. Wlad is limited lol. Joke of the day.

 

Or Vitali was lucky enough that he didn't have to face his brother so casuals can say what he would or wouldn't do since his whole persona is build around what ifs as his resume isn't even comparable to Wlad's. Calling Wlad's era the worst in HW history is beyond laughable. It wasn't worse than Holmes' or Louis' era and definitely was better than 00's, 10's, 20's, 30's, 40's and 50's. Usyk can think whatever he wants to think. Fury thought he would beat Usyk easily even after 12 pints, and look what happened, lol. Sparring isn't an equivalent to a real fight which was proven many times after guys who got beat in sparring were triumphant in real fights. And Wlad was way past his prime at that point.

Comedy gold.

 

YDKSAB.

There's a reason Wlad reigned over the HW division for over a decade, has a gazillion title defenses, and yet no one rates him whatsoever. You won't find him on any credible Top 10 list which is crazy for a guy with his longevity and record. I wonder why.

And if you're going to pick a Klitschko to beat Usyk, it's Vitali all day. That guy was actually mentally tough, fought like a dawg, wasn't chinny, and was awkward enough to cause anyone problems. Wlad? Boring ol' jab and grab Wlad? The Wlad that had to screw people over on contracts to give himself an edge? Please. Post less.

 

"They also have a much greater number of top 10 opponents than Usyk"

Some do, many don't. Usyk's top 10's are almost all top 5's, if not top 2/3's. And he hasn't been turned over or turned over multiple times, unlike the Tyson's, Lewis's, Holyfield's.

"Ray Mercer was 240lbs"

Ray Mercer was slower than Briedis and Hunter, and slower than Fury, Joshua and Dubois too. Mercer was the most plodding and least athletic of that group, so I don't know what your point is.

"the best ones AJ and Fury were past their prime"

Usyk was older than both of them, arguably past his prime himself, and the B-side for 3/4 fights, and he went 4-0 against them. They being the two most accomplished heavyweights of the post-Wlad era, and 2-0 against Wlad himself.

"If a serious boxing fans think that makes him a great HW"

We all do. The kind of nitpicking you're engaging in could be made against almost any other champion and to a greater degree.

 

He's just so much smaller than his opponents and wins cleanly and clearly. He was unified and undisputed at CW and HW and he beat Fury and AJ twice as well as Dubois. Usyk also does this in the opponents home country where judging and officiating should be a disadvantage. Yet Usyk has no issue overcoming that and Usyk doesnt stall fights over drug tests or pick opponent gloves or pick judges - he just wins. And that doesnt even include his 2 gold medals as an amateur...

A true embodiment of P4P.

 

Vitali couldn't keep up with Byrd missing all over the place and you think he has better chances of beating Usyk, lol. And you have an audacity to say someone DKSAB.

Wlad is a consensus Top 10 guy at the moment and a lot of people on this forum has him in Top 5.

 

He absolutely isn't and they absolutely don't.

 

Here's your Top 10 guy getting worked by sorry ass Lamon Brewster. Brewster's Millions beat seven shades of **** out of him, lol. The 5th round, btw. This dude was gassed and dead on his feet in the 5th round! But Usyk, the guy who could go 20 rounds like it was an easy walk in the park is having problems with this guy?

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Wlad's chin sucked, his stamina sucked, and his boxing was ass. He's lucky he hooked up with Stewart who basically decided to cheat code his career since he couldn't box/fight for real. Stewart gave him that bull**** jab and grab and foul as much as possible style which turned about a zillion people off of ever watching boxing again. Disgusting. Should have been DQ'ed versus Povetkin, too.

Oh, and by the way, Vitali was up by five rounds on two scorecards and seven rounds on the third card before he injured his shoulder against Byrd. Also, your argument is disingenuous because Byrd was a late replacement. Vitali was training for Ruddock, a slow moving orthodox fighter, not a slicker southpaw.

I also don't think he'd beat Usyk, but he'd have a helluva better chance than Wlad.

 

Well, I can show you Lennox Lewis getting one shotted twice, what does it say about his career and ability? Not much. Wlad got his stamina issues under control in his prime.

You can cry as much as you want about Wlad's style, but the facts are, Wlad was one of the most dominant HWs in the history of the sport. Had a Top 5 jab, ATG right hand a great left hook with elite distance control. Shouldas, wouldas, couldas don't matter.

He was up on the cards in Germany, while landing only 8 punches more than Byrd on terrible efficiency, missing all over the place, injuring himself while doing so and quitting on his stool. And yes, Byrd was a late replacement, but it more suited Vitali, as Byrd didn't even see the tapes of Vitali at that. And he still came into enemy territory and whooped that ass. Vitali wanted no parts of Byrd after that.

Byrd is the closest boxer stylistically to Usyk out of everyone both brothers faced. Vitali struggled and quit, Wlad dominated him twice. Usyk would make Vitali look silly. That's why Haye's camp instructed him to go for Vitali, not Wlad, but he didn't listen. Wlad would be a great danger to Usyk. 50/50 fight.

 

Yet again becomes about Wlad.