If Usyk beats Dubois, Hrgovic and Zhang, is he a HW ATG?

I didn't get how Hrgovic does something for Usyk because he's top 10 (which I don't question) but Dubois "has to dominate for the next half decade" to be worth anything. I don't see the logic.

If Dubois goes all out from the opening bell then there's a very good chance he'll give a better account of himself than Joshua even if he gets stopped, both in terms of the damage he inflicts and the heart/determination he demonstrates. He was also more competitive with Joyce than Parker was. And if Dubois goes on to avenge the loss to Joyce then Usyk's win would age well, assuming Usyk beats him.

 

"I am no longer letting guys off the hook"

Why were you letting other guys off the hook? And what changed?

 

Do you have a source which supports your claim that they are the only eight men to beat "10 top 10 heavyweights"?

There's no objective criteria here anyway (do losses count against you? Is home/A-side advantage taken into consideration? Are rankings the be all and end all? etc.). Beating say five top 5 heavyweights may well be more impressive than beating ten top 10.

 

"Lewis objectively has a far deeper resume at heavyweight than Usyk"

Sure, Lewis also has two KO losses and never fought a southpaw or a 6'5+ one-punch KO artist. Going Chisora, Joshua, Joshua, Dubois, Hrgovic, Zhang without a loss would be a great run. Chisora gave Vitali his 3rd toughest and most competitive fight, Joshua, Dubois, Hrgovic and Zhang are all 6'5+ billed, 240+ lbs, hard punchers (Hrgovic less so), plus Zhang is a southpaw. It's a very dangerous series of fights, especially considering Usyk's age and style. Usyk's also beaten fighters with significant results against heavyweights at cruiser and in the WSB (which used to count as professional bouts), with no losses.

"Lewis doesn't have controversial wins so A side advantage doesn't factor in either."

Mercer (MD that many had a draw or for Mercer) and Vitali (stopped after 6 against Vitali's will while he was still able to fight and 4-2 up) were objectively controversial wins that were determined by officials. A-side advantage confers many invisible benefits: Chisora was able to get away with many foul tactics that he would not have been able to as the B-side (look what happened when he was the A-side vs Pulev, compared to what happened in Germany). Chisora and Joshua also had a scorecard advantage relative to fan consensus (judges had Chisora winning 5, Boxrec 3, judges had Joshua winning 3 and 4, Boxrec 4 and 5). This meant that Usyk had to take more chances than he otherwise would have to win the fights, with taking more chances even more dangerous than it should have been (if he'd been cut, hurt, knocked down etc.)

 

That doesn't really answer the question. There are still promotional rivalries and more official sanctioning bodies/belts than ever now, so if anything it should be harder and it will be harder again if there are 5+ in the future. And if someone doesn't want to fight you under any circumstances (let's say Fury doesn't want to fight Usyk, or Bowe allegedly with Lewis) then there's not much you can do aside from try to wait them out and scoop up the belt if it becomes available.

 

"with Dubois then dominating all comers in the aftermath"

I think this is an over the top standard when you've said that a top 10 win in itself holds value. Hrgovic may not accomplish anything more after losing to Usyk but he'd still be top 10 and thus significant, whereas Dubois has to "dominate for 5 years" to be significant?

Dubois is better connected than Wallin and much younger, so the Joyce rematch win very likely wouldn't be where it ended. If Dubois went on to become a top 10 (beating Joyce might get him there, assuming a strong/brave showing against Usyk), top 5, a titlist etc. then the win would probably appreciate significantly.