This been true since the nineties, when I was most of ya'll'ses ages right now. We had a fat dude who was like 46 retire as the lineal champion then. It as crazy as sheeit, man.
You think Ruiz is the same size as Bivol without the fat. You know Bivol says he can make 168?? You are stupid.
Yet who's the one trying to pretend that a man whose arguably beat two top ten Heavyweights (one just yesterday), is nothing but a mere gatekeeper, because it serves to further your anti-Usyk narrative? If Chisora survives a few bombs early and is still there in the middle rounds, he's finally going to have a guy in the ring with him that's thrice as gassed as he is. AJ doesn't like pressure, and really doesn't like looping overhands to the temples. Yes, Chisora could beat him.
He was flat coming in. He hadn't fought in awhile. I also think his team underestimated 40 year old Arreola. I think those things were more of am issue than the weight loss. It's not like he was weight drained and emaciated. To Ruiz's credit, by the end of the fight, he adjusted and was clearly in control. Of course, Arreola not really being able to use his left-hand effectively made that easier.
He didn't have the same energy levels. He threw mostly single or double shots and rarely put any combinations together. Perhaps that shot to the temple area of the head effected his performance too or made him hesitant to let his hands go..Ruiz never had good defence
He fights in spurts. I think he always did. Yes, he got caught flat early and hurt. He ended pretty strong though. He throws good, fast but predictable combos. I think Wilder starches him.
The fighter who gave Usyk by far the most trouble in the World Series of Boxing was Mihai Nistor aka a slightly smaller and faster version of Chisora and AJ isn't a relentless pressure fighter. Although Usyk is not as fast or fresh as he once was (aside from the fact that the ring was small in the Chisora fight) he's still a much better technical boxer than AJ. His biggest vulnerability is stylistic: he will be robbed on the cards against AJ in Britain and doesn't have great KO power, especially at HW. But there's no doubt in my mind that he would tend to beat Whyte, Wilder, Parker, Hunter (who he brutalised at cruiser) Ruiz and possibly some of the top 5 as well.
The division has been on a really bad run yes. I'm not gonna say the fighters are all hype, but the fights just haven't been good. Ruiz arreola was just ok even with the early drama. Parker chisora was meh. Parker fa was awful. Pov whyte 1 was cinematic but the 2nd was a one sided beat down same for wilder fury 2. I get why we aren't seeing holy Bowe but why can't we get Mercer vs Cooper or Jefferson vs Harris once in a while? Or dare I request liakhovich vs Brewster? Fury wilder 1 was a great fight but that was years ago. Ruiz AJ 1 was exciting but a dull rematch. Wilder ortiz 1 was decent but the wilder fights were more of a novelty act than great displays of boxing. Honestly my picks rn for best fights of this hw era are like kownaczki vs arreola and that breazeale slugfest against the other fringe guy bc the big fights have been pretty meh. AJ vs wlad was a legit great fight that was years ago at this point though.
It's ironic that he's an AJ supporter who thinks that AJ is too big for Usyk when by the same logic Fury is too big for AJ. I would agree with him on one point though: Usyk's punch resistance won't be that good at HW. A cruiser-equivalent Beterbiev managed to hurt Usyk a few times in the amateurs (3 minute bouts, headgear, bigger gloves) and he had to take a knee to recover. Usyk is also 34 and will probably be close to 35 when he faces Joyce, with 20 pro fights and another 350 amateur bouts behind him. By the time he fights AJ or Fury he will be going on 36 and even more worn, which is not good for a style so dependent on speed and reflexes.
Ofc a agree that he will be robbed on cards vs A.J. The same had happened with him already if he did not had finished Bellew in distance. They just had assumed that Usyk box there for scorecards. He needed to stop in distance Bellew to be declared as winner in this fight. With Huck maybe too, cos there I do have some serious doubts. If from CW fights, he then was most agile boxer in division and good choice was to go for points wins vs Briedis and Gassiev. Prime Usyk from WBSS 1 era ( these 12 rounds fights not WSB ) I think had KOed Wilder cos he is too crude and had damn serious problems with old Ortiz who really was very slow if compare with WBSS1 era Usyk. Also I think from these years Gassiev and Briedis, Dorticos too had KOed Wilder. Wilder was good boxer but in pros he had too much xx number with easy opponents and looks that had turned into almost 1 handed boxer. While in amateurs he even had get Olympic bronze medal and this is not possible if boxer is bad or unskilled boxer.
Last delivery to morgue was from amateur LHW fight not a pro fight. The biggest difference is ammy certified gloves full fist closure position vs pro glove not even gloves weight. The big problem with Beterbiev is that he was not bad body puncher even in ammies and he loved to damage opponents gradually. Beterbiev I think was approx 190 lber naturally, Gvozdyk a bit larger than Beterbiev.
Huck, Makabu, Bellew, a mid-tier journeyman in Witherspoon and Dave Allen in sparring are Usyk's best KO's but he didn't manage to KO Glowacki, Breidis, Gassiev or Chisora. Hunter was borderline because that fight could easily have been stopped in the 12th but this was a 197 lbs Hunter vs a 207 lbs Usyk. The record suggests that Usyk has sufficient power at HW to gain the respect of his opponents but not enough power to stop them on any kind of consistent basis.
