Is Usyk really great or only shows how horrible the current HW division is?

Uysk's an all time great, that's set in stone right now, no matter what happens for the rest of his career as any defeats now can simply be put down to age as he's 37 already.

As for the quality of the era, it's always hard to judge an era when it's not complete, easier to judge with a non biased eye after it's over and we've had an era to follow to give some context. Right now it's not the strongest but not the weakest either, average but competitive is how I would rate it.

Usyk, Fury and Joshua are the clear top 3, both Fury and Joshua would be decent fighters in most eras, probably pick up titles in all but the strongest eras where there maybe fewer belts than today. Below that there is a big drop off but there isn't a lack of fighters at this level with Whyte, Parker, Wilder, Zhang, Joyce, Dubois and Hrgovic all being competitive on paper. Its this abundance of similar level fighters in the top 10, along with some big personalities that makes this era interesting. But I think we'd need at least 1 more top fighter who could compete in most era's to deem this an above average era.

Don't think there is a case to say it's a strong era with only Usyk for me who currently ranks as a great. Both Fury and Joshua would have to make a case for great status for this era to be regarded as great, one of them might do it, but both? I don't see that happening.

 

Patterson failed to fight a lot more than that. Fury was not his fault as he ran from the sport, came back, and got caught up in a series against Wilder. Wilder was not his fault as Deontay turned down, what, 100 million or something?

 

I'm not sure Patterson's failure to defend against everyone is analogous to Joshua failing to establish supremacy in the division.

During Patterson's reigns there was only one world champion and everyone knew it was him. I think Usyk is the first time be able to claim the same since Lewis.

 

Exactly.

 

Not really even today. Most fans feel that Sonny Liston was the unofficial champ because of Patterson's failure to defend against the best.

 

Weak era in boxing history makes Usyk look better, Fury too

 

No one thought Liston was the champion. Everyone thought Liston was being ducked, but no one thought he was the champion.

 

Usyk is 6'3" and 221 lbs, the exact same size at Muhammed Ali. He's routinely beating guys that are 6'4"-6'9" and between 240 and 280 pounds. HW is the land of the giants and physical phenoms these days.

Lennox and Bowe would be able to compete at a high level. Not sure about any of the rest. Holyfield maybe.

 

You're overrating the crop because of size but then mention how Usyk is Alis size. Mercer, Tua, Golota, Ruddock, Tyson, Ibeabuchi, Byrd, Morrison, Bruno, Grant, Hide, old Foreman, old Holmes, Briggs, maybe even Donald deserves a shout.

Overall, there is no way the current era are better or as stacked. It may be underrated though

 

Usyk is better than all 90s HW with maybe the exception of Lennox (who soundly beat almost everyone on your list). Probably Fury too.

There was a lot of depth in the 90s, but not a lot of high end quality. If you put Dubois, Parker, Zhang, and maybe Kabayel in that mix, they'd do better than you think.

 

Not Fury, actually watch his career over. Why do you people insist he's a h2h nightmare when he's fought few top fighters and has had several bad performances regardless, dropped every fight. So we really have to wonder what happens if Fury tried to fight everyone. He is literally Bowe, but I think even Bowe has beaten more ranked fighters.

There isn't near as much quality today. Just Usyk really, Joshua is not that good, and they aren't fighting eachother as much, which would lead to them having more losses and more contenders getting exposed.

Parker would have success, albeit less. He would probably win a title. Dubois gets smashed

 

The first

 

Fury is Tyson. Wasted his prime because he's a mental midget. Everything you say about his career, I could say about Tyson. But on any given night, both could be a nightmare opponent.

Let's look at your list:

Mercer: Lost to old Larry, Jesse Ferguson. Had some good wins but lost to Lennox, Hoyfield, Briggs, and Wlad. Best win was Morrison

Tua - Lost to Lennox (not close), Byrd, draw with Rahman. Best win was Moorer.

Golota - 2 DQs vs Bowe (although he was winning both fights), KTFO by Lennox, Lost to Grant, Ruiz, Brewster. Best win: Orlin Norris or Witherspoon

Ruddock - Lost to Tyson 2x, KTFO by Lennox, Lost to Morrison, Best Win: Dokes

Tyson - Lost to Douglas, KTFO by Holyfield, KTFO by Lennox, best win: Spinks

Ibeabuchi- Lost to mental health, Best win: Tua

Byrd - Lost to Ibeabuchi, Wlad, Povetkin. Best Win: Vitali (I guess)

Morrison - KTFO by Mercer, Lost to Lennox, KTFO by Bentt. Best Win: old Foreman

Bruno - Lost to Tyson 2x, Lennox, Witherspoon, Smith. Best Win: McCall I guess?

Grant - KTFO by Lennox, Lost to Mccline kinda, Lost to Takam and Charr (!). Best win: Golota

Hide - Lost to Bowe, Vitali, and 2 nobodies; Best win: Tony Tucker

old Foreman/old Holmes - Both could compete in any era

Briggs - Lost to Wilson, Lewis, Fields, MCline, Draw Botha, Sultan, Vitali. Best Win: Mercer (shouldn't have beat Old George)

Donald - better than I remember, but didn't win a match after Holyfield.



To me, this list is right on par with Zhang, Parker, Dubois, Joshua, Kabayel, Wilder, etc. There was a big gap between Lennox/Bowe and the rest, similar to the gap between Usyk/Fury and the rest.

 

Trolling at its finest.

Notice how it doesn't engage with other posters who point out the stupidity of the 90s argument by explaining who Evander Holyfield is, a cruiserweight who won it all in the 90's?

Notice how it only responds to like minded comments?

Notice how it has been here five years with hardly any posts?

 

No you can't. Tysons resume craps on Furys by a long shot and it's the reason he has more losses

Fury has old Klitschko and Wilder

Tyson has Bruno, Golota, Tucker, Spinks, Tubbs, old Holmes, Ruddock, and didn't get dropped and ran close by an MMA fighter 0 fight novice. Tyson was also shot to bits by Danny Williams and Mcbride, Fury is past it, he isn't shot, not even close. There's also the McDermott fight, Fury wasn't prime but he was young and hungry.

Holmes was an ATG who many rank next to Klitschko. Mercer was shot against Briggs and Wlad. This is clearly a Boxrec skimdown

Tua beat Moorer, Ruiz, still beat Rahman, Maskaev but he was green. That's a solid resume

Ruiz, Byrd wins over Golota were controversial and many if not the majority thought Golota won.

Ruddocks win over dokes is better than Wilders win over Ortiz and his win over Smith is better than Wilders win over Stiverne.

Grant losing to Takam and Charr is an absurd argument he was absolute shot. I would say Grant's win over Golota and Izon is better than Dubois win over Hrgovic and Obese Jarrell Miller.

Looking under the current era with this lense including the context:

Zhang lost to Parker, Hrgovic Drew with journeyman Jerry Forrest, who I would put below Ferguson by a significant margin

Parker lost to Whyte, dropped by past it Chisora in a controversial fight even if he won the second time, Lost to aj, KO'd by Joyce

Kabayel looks good but hasn't beaten anybody but Chisora who's a gatekeeper and shouldnt be a good win. Best win is Sanchez who also hasn't beaten anybody notable. A green Ajagba ? Okay but he has no wins over ranked opponents either. Not even now.

Dubois lost to Joyce, Usyk, Dropped by Lerena in what looked like a scriped fight.

The other guys in the top 15 now and in the better part of this era have barely even fought eachother outside of Povetkin so they have no good wins. Overall I'd surely favor the top contenders of the 90s over Parker, Zhang, Dubois, etc if those are the best contenders now. 90s was simply more stacked/they were fighting eacher more when looking through both eras in their entirety.

The best of the current era from start to finish: Usyk, Fury, Joshua, Parker, Povetkin, Zhang, Joyce, Wilder, Ruiz, Hunter, Ortiz, Dubois, Whyte, Chisora, Anderson, Any others you'd like to list ?

The best of the 90s era: Lewis, Bowe, Holyfield, Tyson, Foreman, Holmes, Ibeabuchi, Byrd, Tua, Ruddock, Tucker, Moorer, Golota, Hide, Morrison, Bentt, Mercer, Rahman, Douglas. I'm missing like 5 more names.