Elephant in the room. When will Usyk start noticeably declining? He's 35 in 4 months.

I actually think Ortiz is a decent comparison here. He has a similar style but has never been near Usyk's level and still performs pretty well despite his advanced age.

Again though, I doubt Usyk intends to spend longer at HW than he has to. I'd suspect part of the reason he started at CW is because he realised that the damage you take at HW takes a big toll on you over the years no matter how good you are, much smarter to force the mandatory from CW.

 

You may disagree or not disagree, that's your problem. You have your opinion i have mine.
And you can check my post history i'm talking about Usyk declining from long time now.
Against Gassiev the plan was completely different, but Usyk was a lot sharper in every single component. Usyk from Gassiev > Usyk from Joshua, and it's not even close.
Against Bellew that was sub-par Usyk, who was on the decline already.
Don't forget he also had injuries that make him struggle for quite a bit, and he had to deal with inactivity as well, this accelerate the process big time.
Neither his punch output is the same, neither his reflexes, neither his hand speed, neither his explosiveness, neither his feet quickness.

And damn no, the athletes still decline after hitting 31-32. The process is slower now, but the main reason is obvious, and it's call Drugs.
The whole nutrition thing is a b.c. for some casuals, that don't know a ......
And while i won't get into it i think, at least in terms of progression and body, Usyk is probably one of the cleanest athletes in the boxing.

The only recent boxer/fighter i know that was in their prime in the range of 35-37 was Klitschko. After 2012 and the lost to Manny, he start declining heavily and at 38-39 his speed was nowhere to be seen, as well as his reflexes and feet quickness. His stamina/energy and punch output was more than halved. That's why he relied so much on clinches lately on. It wasn't just a tactic anymore, but to get a rest, and that he just can't keep have the same output.

But let's look at the best phenom of the modern sport, a guy that is an absolutely physical beast and train insane and take incredible care to his body - Cristiano Ronaldo.
And the decline in his physical attributes was absolutely obvious for people that follow him closely when he hit 32. In 2016-217 he had when he was 31, he had some injuries and some drop in form, and the process started somewhere in there.
He is still going strong, and he is still doing great, and score a lot of goals, but he is nowhere where he was before.
He is obviously slower, his cardio/stamina/energy is not the same, he also regressed physically, not so strong anymore and so.
Before he was outrunning his opponents without even trying, and now he rely on so different attributes to make for it.

There is no f***** way in fighting sports, that someone that is in the sport for so long, and have so many matches(amateur as well), and training that incredible hard, and you waste a lot of energy in there, as well as constantly having hard camps, can be as his prime even at 35.
Usyk was past his prime, already in the Bellew fight, and whoever not see this, it's either not following Usyk closely or simply doesn't have an eye for it.

 

Some good points, but there is also another factor to consider, and that is whether or not Usyk was really performing to his best capacity against Bellew/Witherspoon and Chisora.

I think Usyk was fighting well within himself against Bellew and still took him out. Withersppon and Del Boy was about acclimitisation and getting in rounds at a new weight. I don't think you can compare those bouts to Gassiev and Joshua tbh. Additionally Both Joshua and Gassiev had tailor made style and deficiencies to allow Usyk to reach capacity easier maybe?

Anyways, to some it may look like the "decline" was a bit premature due to manner of Joshua performance.