Can we straight up say Usyk is the 2nd greatest Cruiserweight?

I'm okay with that...for now. The second Usyk knocks off any HW titlist, however, Evander has cause to sweat.

 

Guillermo Jones, started as a welter and won belts as a cruiser and competed as a heavy.
Impressive

 

I don’t think you have a full comprehension on the verb “existing”.

 

As a CW I have Usyk as number one. Too many people rate Holyfield on his HW achievements which should have no bearing on his standing in another weight class, though of course has a bearing on his achievements on a H2H basis. That's something Usyk still needs to prove, and hopefully will do if he can get over these annoying injury issues and isn't tempted to bulk up. Anyone wants to claim Holyfield as their number one however, and I'd have no problem with it. Both men are clearly in a tier above everyone else.

Past that it becomes really murky. Depends on if you like longevity, big wins or perceived H2H ability.

 

Haye always had lax defence, terrible pacing, poor balance resulting from his selling out on a lot of his power shots, and struggled against fighters that came forward under tight guards and put it on him. His speed, explosive power and sneakiness won him fights, but a great boxer he was not. Very similar Jean Pascal in a lot of regards (though with a much worse chin relative to his weight class).

 

I think Gassiev gets a bit overrated, and I say that as a fan of his. What little we've seen of him makes him look very good indeed (beating down an old but still game Lebedev, destroying Wlodarczyk, and KOing the teak tough Dorticos back to back is a pretty beastly achievement by anyone) but yes, there are still a lot of question marks around him, one being how well he bounces back from defeat. The version that Uyk beat, however, was a hell of a fighter.

 

This is the thing which baffles me about anyone claiming that Haye was some sort of legend at CW. He had two title fights. Two. One of those against Enzo Maccarinelli.

His only good name at CW was an old Mormeck, who'd been KOed by O'Neil Bell shortly before. Mormeck was good but he was no ATG, and wouldn't likely be more than another name in the mix today. Haye went life and death with him and this is literally his only decent win at CW ever.

Had Haye stuck around and beaten the likes of Cunningham, Huck, Adamek etc I'd rate him a hell of a lot higher than I do. But merely imagining he beats them because of perceived H2H beastliness is all any Haye fan has to resort to, and frankly anyone that looks at Haye with unbiased eyes can see a ton of flaws to his game.

 

His CW run is no better than Adamek's. Possibly worse. Bell had already KOed Mormeck shortly before Haye did, and Cunningham was a damn sight better than Macarinelli H2H or on resume.

 

Is Gassijew some thinly veiled holocaust dig?

Bad taste if so

 

I have seen before the "iev" replaced by the "jew" in certain Slavic names by Slavic speakers, for example Chakijew for Chakiev.

Or maybe it was a racist dig in this case. I don't know, but I have seen it done legitimately.

 

Nah, it's an alternate spelling. J is pronounced y and w is pronounced v.

Bit weird to spell it that way on an English speaking forum however.

 

Fair enough lol