How does Usyk do against these past great heavyweights in their primes?

He has a chance to beat every single HW in history, just because of his footwork, stamina and ring IQ.

Past HW has very poor defence and are just rough guys with power, which is Usyks bread and butter.

 

Funny thing is of AJ catches him in round 3 next week and ko's him this and future threads will end up way different.
Then suddenly Rahman or Marciano would be favoured over him

 

I think he would beat Dempsey, Vitali, Walcott (tricky fight), Rocky (especially in a 12 rounder)
Lennox and Mike would probably win by stoppage. Vladimir would be a boring fight where Usyk gets pushed around

 

Not a problem.

I don't care about that. I was one of few, who was saying that Usyks gonna win with very big margin.

That's casual way of thinking. follow the trend, without thinking or analyzing.

According to many, Usyk was "bossing" Wlad in the camp for Fury.

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Usyk can beat all the mentioned fighters, they are not better than him in any way, but of course nostalgic people will always prefer old fighters...

 

Fighters he definitely doesn't beat imo

Ali
Foreman
Holmes
Tyson
Lewis
Wlad
Vitali

I would favour Frazier, but not confident with that
Pick like the others

I haven't seen enough of Liston other than his days as champ, but I would back a prime Liston too

 

Usyk would finish under .500 if he fought once against each of them. His easiest win would be Norton who is about as overrated as any heavyweight in history. He would also beat Jersey Joe who wasn't 49-20 because of bad luck. Dempsey, Frazier, Marciano, Holyfield and Bowe would be good fights based styles, talent level and match ups. Usyk would lose to the rest.

By the way, for those who weighed under 200 such as Dempsey and Marciano, my thought on this is that they were fighting the cruiserweight version of Usyk.

 

Rahman? Hm, definitely no. He was as average as they come. I mean, prime Rahman brealy beat shot 40 y.o. cruiserweight Al Cole who was inferior to Usyk in everything even in his prime. And prime Rahman was battered by shot Hollyfield

 

How many good southpaws did the fighters on this list fight?

Because if they never fought a good southpaw or even a southpaw at all (and probably sparred few to none either) I don't see how you can favour them over the CW + HW SOUTHPAW GOAT.

The only ones who fought several good southpaws are Holyfield, Vitali and Wlad.

Holyfield went 1-3 against LHW Moorer, LHW Byrd and CW Sultan. Even egotistical Holyfield admitted that "in this era" Usyk would win.

Vitali lost to LHW Byrd on injury while ahead on points, though he wasn't able to dominate the exchanges. Bodes poorly against Usyk.

Wlad lost to power puncher Sanders but did beat LHW Byrd x2, Thompson x2, CW Sultan, CW Chagaev. Wlad had the most power of all the fighters on your list and was probably the best pointfighter. So combined with his vast southpaw experience, he would have a decent chance against Usyk.

 

Vitaly Wladimir Lewis and Ali beat him the rest I have no idea

 

P4P he is better than all of them. H2H only a few SHW's Would be a problem due to the size gap.

 

Excellent post! Dead on.

 

I think he beats most and has a chance against any, but I admit we are low on data for me to make the case.

Look, he is 6'3", fight at over 220, a technical southpaw master, fast, great defense, iron chin, can throw almost a 1000 a fight when he wants, and can turn on the power when he fells like it. He hasn't got a actual weakness. Are there guys who are bigger and hit harder? Sure. Prime Ali was faster. But yeah, the best southpaw heavy of all time has a shot at any fight.

 

What past heavyweights are you referring to?