Oleksandr Usyk (heavyweight) vs Prime Mike Tyson

True.

False.

 

What the hell has Usyk done that makes him greater than Spinks? Both were Olympic Gold Medalists, both won the Heavyweight title but the difference is Spinks 2 wins over undefeated and lineal HW champion Larry Holmes is simply better than Usyk's wins over unified HW champion Anthony Joshua. Maybe if Usyk beats Fury he'll be held in higher regard but the undisputed LHW champion moving up and dethroning the undefeated Lineal Heavyweight champion in his first two fights there is simply greater than the undisputed Cruiserweight champion eventually moving up to HW to defeat the unified and number 2 HW in the world.

 

That's the way you see the fight unfolding. And you could well be correct.
You are very definite about it. You don't state your speculations as opinions but rather, as facts.

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But others hold to the possibility that the fight may unfold differently.

And they could be wrong.

As I told Kingwilder, we'll never know.

 

Ya think ?

 

Spinks' career is in the books.

Usyk's is a work in progress.

If Usyk loses two fight against Fury, Spinks will be regarded (rightly ) as being greater.

If Usyk beats Fury twice, he will be regarded as being greater than Spinks.

 

Nobody can be sure of exactly how things would have played out.

Although we can make an educated guess based upon our knowledge of each guy.

I’ve studied the sport for over 30 years.

I also think that Mike is massively overrated by many people, and that Usyk is a genius.

I love Usyk.

I love his style, his skills and everything that he stands for.

However, like me and most others have noted, it’s not who the best is, or who the most skilled is/was.

Again, it’s how they’d have matched up on the night.

I think that Floyd Mayweather ranks higher than Tommy Hearns. I think that he had more overall ability. But I don’t believe for a second that he could have beaten him in a H2H fight.

The same applies here.

Mike would have been a significant favourite, because he was a very fast and powerful, inside pressure fighter. And Usyk simply hasn’t got the tools to have dealt with that kind of guy. It would just have been a really bad match up for him stylistically.

I don’t mean to be arrogant, but to me, it’s pretty easy to work out how they’d have matched up.

 

To me i think Usyk matches up better against a fighter like Foreman, whilst Foreman would still be very dangerous i think Usyk's style could give Foreman alot of problems.

Aggressive swarmer types like Frazier, Tyson, are just bad style match ups for Usyk. They would be hunting Usyk down with constant pressure and elite power, and Usyk just doesn't have the fire power or style to beat a world class swarmer pressure fighter on the level of those two fighters.

It's nothing to do with nostalgia because i give Usyk decent chance against someone like Foreman, it's just stylistically how certain fighters match up. God knows why people think i'm nostalgic over older fighters when i'm in my early 20s it's truly baffling, it's more just common sense regarding how i see certain stylistic match ups.

 

This would have been one hell of a fight, Usyk would come with the perfect game plan keep the fight on outside and constant lateral movement

Against a prime Mike it would be difficult Usyk doesn’t hit hard enough to worry Tyson and can be hurt to the body and you can imagine Mike would spend the night ripping hooks to the body and following it with hard shots to the head

I favour Mike 60/40 but wouldn’t be surprised if Usyk pulled off the win he has the ability

 

We'll have to agree to disagree here.

Your term, educated GUESS is germane here. We can only guess, and in doing so, try to imagine which strengths and attributes that each man would bring, and which would matter more.

At least we agree on Tommy and Floyd.
In fact, I can't see Floyd making it to the final bell with any of the Fab Four.

And even though you were a bit slow off the mark regarding my response post to MorvidusStyle, you did grasp the levity in the end.



ps
The first fight that I watched as it happened ( actually, a week after it happened), was the Ali-Liston rematch back in 65.

 

I think Usyk has a better shot than most people are giving him here. I say this as someone who says Mike Tyson is the most complete HW I've seen. That doesn't mean he's the best or more accomplished because his demons outside the ring cost him inside the ring. There is no real weakness in prime Tyson other than maybe his stamina wasn't 10/10.

Douglas still beat Tyson close enough to his prime that I wouldn't rule out Usyk, who could also use his feet and has a very high ring IQ. Also, I'm not sure how many southpaws Tyson faced in his career, if any. Usyk has shown a solid chin, however that might not matter against a prime Tyson. I just doubt that Tyson blasts through him like people here seem to think. Usyk is too smart for that.

I'll say Tyson wins a competitive decision and I'll give Usyk at least a 35% chance of pulling off the upset. I know Douglas-Tyson wasn't peak Tyson but I also don't think he was that far off from his prime. If Douglas can do it, I think Usyk can as well.

 

For now, I'd favor Tyson. His resume has more depth at the professional level. He had edges in power, handspeed, and toughness. Usyk edges him in late round cardio, cute footwork, and ring IQ. Tyson's athleticism and rampaging bull fighting style should give him the win in a very scrappy contest. My guess is Tyson struggles at first due to Usyk's southpaw stance and fidgety style, but Tyson manages a late round KO in the 9-10th round.

I think if we could see Andy Ruiz vs Usyk, that would be the closest we'll get to seeing this matchup. Ruiz has some similarities to Tyson with his blend of hand speed, power, and ferocious close range combos and durability. That fight would give us some clues on how Usyk would deal with Tyson, I suspect.

 

Ruiz is too slow footed and not enough power tbh

 

I didn't say it was an exact comparison. There's enough similarities that it would at least give us some idea on how Usyk vs Tyson goes.

Ruiz might actually hit harder with one punch in terms of raw power given his immense size, but Tyson is the better combination puncher and finisher with better technique.

 

I personally just don't think it would. Ruiz is too much of a plodder to trouble Usyk, and 0 head movement. He would get his face boxed off. Ruiz doesn't have notable KO power he may be bigger but I doubt he hits harder

 

Ruiz has consistently KOd men who weigh more than 230+, he has plenty of raw power. Ruiz is swinging 270 lbs of mass at you with good speed and good technique. That's as close as you'll get in this era to someone who even comes close to Tyson's peak a boo style. There's literally no other boxer today Usyk could fight that would give us any clues.

Expecting to find an exact replica of Tyson in any other era is illogical. He was special. No one is going to have exactly the same head movement, body shots, technique, combinations, etc.