Mike Tyson vs Usyk

As is said, if the fight ends early it will be Tysons victory and if the fight ends late or goes the distance it will be Usyks victory.

 

Not necessarily.

If Tyson sweeps the early rounds, he could win a decision. Tyson could maintain a pretty good work rate for 12 rounds.

 

Tyson was far from perfect but Tyson is a bad stylistic match up for Usyk.

The feinting, twitching, etc. will have zero impact on Tyson. Tyson will simply power through that. Usyk does not have the foot speed to keep Tyson off him.

Nor does he have the 83 inch ramrod jab from Douglas to keep Tyson at bay. Nor does he throw hard enough uppercuts consistently to do so. He isn't a Holyfield type either who will headbutt and try to manhandle the incoming Tyson.

Usyk is great but he is very open to the right hand. He is able to deter the bigger guys like Joshua and Dubois from throwing their right hands consistently because he is faster than them and he can counter them AND because they have average chins. Tyson both has a speed advantage over Usyk and he has a great chin.

IMO Tyson has more weapons to hurt Usyk than the other way around. The right hand, right uppercut, left hook, even left uppercut. Tyson has a significant speed advantage and he isn't the type to be deterred by fenting etc.

 

I don't know why you necessarily think that though.

Yes alot of Tyson's stoppages were in the first 6 rounds, but its not like Tyson hasn't gone deep into fights and won decisions before.

Before Tyson become champion he had two 10 round decision wins over Tillis, Green.

He also had a 10th round stoppage over Ribalta.

In his championship days before Tyson went to prison, he had two wide 12 round decision wins over Tucker, Bonecrusher.

And also won a tough 12 round decision vs Ruddock in which was a slugfest.

So whilst I agree if Usyk gets past the 6th round his chances of going the distance increase significantly.

But I also don't necessarily believe Usyk automatically wins if the fight goes past the 6th round either.

IMO Tyson is arguably the worst style match up for Usyk out of any past notable Heavyweights.

And an aggressive shorter ATG swarmer/pressure fighter who has very quick handspeed, KO power in either hand, great defence, very good body puncher.

All the attributes to give Usyk absolute hell.

 

A smaller, mobile fighter who hits like a truck would probably match well against Usyk. Who has so far used his speed and size to his advantage. Fury just to big of a target, and couldn't keep the pace. AJ slower and couldn't handle the footwork.

So Mike blazing in ripping shots would cause Usyk problems but if he doesn't get him out of there then what... Tyson could go the distance sure but Usyk makes you work, makes you move where you dont want to and rarely gets put against the ropes. Mike's ultra aggresive style could work against him...

I have no idea who would win this one for the record...I could see Usyk surving the early storm use his reach and shot selection to keep Mike honest and lets be honest he still his pretty hard, he's caused everyone trouble at heavy just rarely goes for the kill.

OR does Mike land the bingo shot to end it.

 

It’s not rubbish.

Height and reach can of course be a huge advantage.

But it simply depends on the opponent and the stylistic match up.

Usyk having had height and reach on Mike, wouldn’t have meant anything.

He wouldn’t have been able to have outboxed Mike.

Mike would have suffocated him on the inside.

He’d have given him no time or space to have boxed.

Usyk has nothing for Mike.

No long jab to keep him on the end of.

No huge power.

No great inside game.

Mike would have backed him up with speed, power and pressure, where he’d have put him on the defensive.

Usyk is a genius. But he simply hasn’t got the attributes needed to have beaten Mike.

A southpaw chess master, with only limited power, wouldn’t have beaten Mike.

You needed to beat Mike down to get rid of him.

It’s just styles.

The beauty of the sport.

Usyk beat Dubois, AJ and Fury x 2, which were all easier for him than the fight with Breidis at CW.

Styles.

 

Why though?

Mike had stamina when he was fully focused.

He had a 12 round war with Ruddock.

Also, Usyk couldn’t go to war with him.

So it wouldn’t have been a brutal, back and forth war.

It wouldn’t have been a high paced fight.

Mike could have just backed him up and pressured him for 12 rounds.

 

Great post.

Fantastic breakdown.

It’s not about who was better.

It’s about how they’d have matched up on the night stylistically.

 

Uysk isn't a huge power puncher but he has more than enough power to make you respect him. I don't know if Tyson would just be walking through pressuring without various types of difficulty but I agree Tyson is tough matchup from Uysk.

Uysk would also probably have to fight at a faster pace than his usual self against Tyson which makes it a interesting matchup. But so would Tyson too.

 

Usyk could never have traded with Mike.

 

Iron Mike at the peak of his powers went the distance with the likes of Mitch Blood Green (a gang member/drug dealer), James Tillis (solid, but never won a title), Bonecrusher Smith (solid, but not amazing), and Tony Tucker (solid, not great, and broke his hand in the 1st round against Mike and still managed to go the distance).

If those guys could last 12 against Tyson I imagine our Ukrainian demon could as well.

 

Mike wouldn’t have had to have gotten him out of there.

Mike wouldn’t have just backed him up at every opportunity.

Mike only fights one way.

He was a small, fast, powerful pressure fighter.

Usyk hasn’t got the tools to have stopped that.

Usyk would have had little offense in the fight, as Mike would constantly have backed him up into defensive positions.

Usyk hasn’t got the jab, the inside game or the power to have stopped him from pouring forward at every opportunity.

Mike was small.

Elusive.

He had advantages in speed and power.

People can say that Usyk was better than Evander and Douglas etc, but he hasn’t got their attributes.

It’s just a simple matter of styles. And it would have been be an awful stylistic match up for Usyk.

The guy’s a chess master.

A craftsman.

But he couldn’t have deterred or stopped Mike from closing him down.

 

Mike wouldn’t have had any respect for Usyk’s power.

 

Going the distance and winning, are two completely different things.