Does Usyk's last performance affects his ranking on an ATG heavyweights list?

Uh, he was that good.

Duh.

 

But not good enough to decisively beat Rico, right?

Do you actually follow your own logic? You claim Usyk has declined since his cruiserweight days; then he moves up to heavyweight, wins fight after fight, yet when he faces a retired kickboxer, he can't beat him without controversy.

Either Usyk hit the heavyweight division during its worst era, or the level of kickboxing is higher. Pick one—there are no other options.

 

He was 39 when he fought Rico. I mean, seriously, what part of this do you not understand? How old are you? You aren't the same man at 39. That is all.

I told everyone it was going to be a great fight, and I told everyone why. But yeah, 39 year old Usyk is not the same as 30 year old Usyk. That is obvious.

By the way, it is not your place in the world to create dichotomies that others have to choose from. You think too much of yourself.

 

What are you talking about? What "30"? He was 37 against Fury, 38 against Daniel, and 39 against Rico. Two great fights—even if you think he’s been getting steadily worse for years—but the Rico fight was a disaster. Either Rico is the most brilliant athlete in history, or the current heavyweight scene is a sham.
Take your pick.
It’s obvious you can decline between the ages of 38 and 39.
But not to the point where you’re in a life-or-death struggle against an aging kickboxer making his boxing debut!!! That was a title fight, not an exhibition match!!

 

Jesus H Christ.

He was not the man he once was at 39. Pick any age.

 

Is 39 some kind of magic number? Do you suddenly become a woman or something?

Damn, at 38, Usyk dominates the world's number two heavyweight—a guy a whole decade younger—yet ten months later, he can't do the same against a retired kickboxer who is only two years younger and making his boxing debut???
Are you out of your mind?

This isn't a decline; it's a total collapse—or else the current heavyweight division is a total sham!

Find me another collapse like this in the history of boxing.

 

The collapse where an almost 40 year old, seemingly uninterested Usyk cratered a 6'5 265 pound dude who was solid muscle and had endless stamina because he'd taken every 'roid known to man? THAT collapse? Where the dude lost his mouthpiece, went through the ropes, had to use the ropes to stand, couldn't follow ref commands, and was stumbling around while his face looked like ground hamburger? THAT collapse?

And yet again we have another genius claiming the current HW division is garbage. Just like how people said the HW division from 10 years earlier was garbage. Just like how people said the 90s were garbage when they were going on. Just like how people said the 80s were garbage because Ali was gone and Holmes was a bore. Just like how people said the 70s Golden Age was garbage because those pansies couldn't hold a candle to Joe Louis, etc. Ad infinitum.

Get some new freaking material.

 

By 39, your physical prime is long over. That is all. If you do not understand this, you need to research it.

Here, I will do it for you, since you probably couldn't find it on your own:


Breakdown by Physical Trait

• Muscle Strength: Raw strength peaks around 25 to 30 years old, remaining on a steady plateau for about a decade before any gradual reduction begins. [1, 2]
• Speed and Agility: Explosive power, short sprints, and rapid reflexes peak in the mid-to-late 20s. [1]
• Endurance and Stamina: Long-distance running, cycling, and ultra-endurance feats often peak in the late 20s to mid-30s as mental toughness and pacing experience compensate for minor physical drops.[]
• Overall Fitness Capacity: Broad longitudinal data, such as a ScienceAlert report on long-term fitness tracking, points to age 35 as the combined high-water mark for overall physical performance when balancing power and endurance

 

It's quite telling that the only guys in the history of the HW division who have won title fights at or older than the age of 39 are the Klitschko brothers, Foreman, and Usyk. Usyk hanging on as long as he did, while performing as well as he did, and doing it while giving up major advantages in height, reach, etc. is quite extraordinary. And again, HE FREAKING BEAT RICO. He hurt Rico multiple times in that fight, never got hurt himself, and put the man down and finished it. Compare that with other greats of the past losing to guys who wouldn't have been fit to tie their boots, needing gift decisions, etc. and it's flat out absurd to go in on Usyk as hard as some mouth breathers seem so desperate to do.

 

Again, and again, and again, I told everyone this would be a hard fight. Kick-boxers often fight in simplified, awkward, high-volume styles that don't make the them great in the long run, once they are figured out, but catch boxers---especially scientific boxers--by surprise, and allow them great initial success. Troy Dorsey was the poster-boy for this. It isn't anything new to anyone who has actually watched the sport for a few decades. This, combined with the fact that Rico has some very real advantages coming in, and it was always going to be a good fight, which is why Usyk took it.

And yeah, being 39, he's winding down.

I didn't bother to explain this to the other guy, because he wouldn't understand anyway. I would have a better chance of explaining it to my cat.

I will repeat this for about the thirtieth time, which I posted a couple of weeks BEFORE the fight...probably have already posted it in this thread...

 

If a 39-year-old boxer is the dominant heavyweight champion, then the division sucks. If a retired kickboxer gives the dominant champion his toughest fight in years, it means the champion is dominating a weak era—what is it that you don't understand?
If Hulk Hogan had put on gloves and chased Foreman around the ring in 1995, that would have been a sign of a decline, but nothing of the sort happened.

 

This is very well done!

I suggest tying the 2 themes together in a new thread~> cranky & biased delusions about era quality across seemingly all of time, although I add that sometimes if skill declines a bit increasing size can compensate/tae up the slack at HW...

With the excellent defense of the performance of Usyk.
Considering what some add below about the advantages of his opponents & newbie MMA guys.

 

Agreed. A kickboxer almost beat the world champion. And some are calling usyk one of the best ever.

Laughable.

 

The very top 1 percent of modern kickboxers have excellent hands, and train with professional boxers as well. Rico belongs to the new generation of kickboxers that have good level boxing skills. But at the same time, it must be acknowledged that Usyk didnt take the fight seriously at all, and at his age it was a mistake.

Rico Is an exception to the rule, you won't find a kickboxing champion with his boxing skills in any other era.