As to the match up in question, I’d probably favour Usyk but it would be no walk in the park - Olek would have to have wits about him from go to whoa.
IKE, I don't really see the Top Teir in Usyk or in ANY of the S-HWs at all. Ike was a Great Boxer, who was fit for ANY HW/S-HW in History all things being Equal.
It didn't hit Usyk balls, he was milking it. You can be technical and call that a low blow but he was milking it 100%.
Technically it may of been a "low blow" because lower part of the glove strayed a millimetre too low. But realistically the knuckle part of the glove landed right on Usyk's belt line, which was covering his belly button. Hence i think it was a legit abdomen shot, and other borderline shots similar to that have been called legit see the Khan/Judah fight for reference. Usyk was on the floor for over 2 minutes and was literally shaking, to me his reaction was of a guy that got the wind knocked out of him, and he wouldn't of been able to get up within 10 seconds had a count been administered. Usyk also milked a borderline body shot from Joshua in their 2nd fight and was given time to recover.
Ive seen several of his fights. Joshua is useless when he doesnt dictate the pace. Has horrible stamina, a horrible chin. Ike can bob and weave has timing and can catch and counter out of a cross guard and a rythmic jab. Ike might be a stiffer version of holyfield but joshua is much closer to frank bruno than ike
And yet AJ has the big record at heavyweight and Ike is a pipedream, a might have been. I don't fancy any plodding fighter against Usyk let alone one as slow as Ike. Sure Ike has power but its nothing Usyk hasn't seen before
Would you have fancied him over Byrd given that he was "a plodder who would have a job landing on him"? Im not saying Ike beats Usyk, the comparison to AJ is just nonsensical. They are of Nigerian descent and have big muscles. But thats about it
Byrd has good upper body movement but not particularly good feet. Standing in a phone booth with Ike is gonna get you tagged sooner or later.
Usyk hasn't proved he's better than Byrd at Heavyweight yet and a fight between them would be razor thin close.