Oleksandr Usyk, The Thread...

I've done a few of these in classic and wanted to do one here, Basically an appreciation thread, a breakdown of his skills (and in this case potential match ups) as well as listing ATGs his size for him to match against

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16-0-0 (12KOs)

Usyk has had an outstanding amateur career, one of the greatest.

• Amateur Record: 335-15
• 2005 Ukraine middleweight representative at the European Junior Championships in Tallinn, Estonia.
• 2006 Middleweight Bronze Medalist for Ukraine at the European Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
  
• 2006 Ukraine middleweight representative at the World Cup (Duals) in Baku, Azerbaijan
  
• 2006 Ukraine middleweight representative at the Ukraine vs. USA Dual in Harvey, USA
  
• 2008 Heavyweight Silver Medalist for Ukraine at the 1st Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Europe in Pescara, Italy
  
• 2008 Ukraine heavyweight representative at the Olympics in Beijing, China
  
• 2008 Light Heavyweight Gold Medalist for Ukraine at the European Championships in Liverpool, England.
  
• 2008 Heavyweight Silver Medalist for Ukraine at the World Cup in Moscow, Russia
  
• 2009 Heavyweight Bronze Medalist for Ukraine at the World Championships in Milan, Italy.
  
• 2010 Ukraine heavyweight representative at the Ukraine vs. France Dual in Villerupt, France and Agen, France
  
• 2011 Heavyweight Gold Medalist for Ukraine at the World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan.
  
• 2012 Heavyweight Gold Medalist for Ukraine at the Olympics London, England.
  
• 2012/2013 Ukraine Otamans heavyweight representative at the World Series of Boxing

During this long and fine career he has picked up wins over Matt Korobov, Artur Beterbeiv and Joe Joyce



Then in 16 fights he has become Undisputed CW champion in an era where the alphabet bodies rarely allow, he has beaten his last 7 fights on the road. He has also amassed the best résumé at CW of all time imo, beating

Bellew (shopworn)
Gassiev
Huck (shopworn)
Breidis
Hunter
Glowacki

After watching all of these fights, I can say that Usyk is also a top 3 -200lb fighter H2H of all time as well, I don't know how he'd match up with Holyfield, Gene Tunney or Ezzard Charles but he's around that area, he has an unbelievable gas tank, hits hard enough to keep anyone honest and has a very good selection and structure of punches at his disposal. His chin is solid below 200lbs, we will see how he retains his mandible when he moves up.
He is very good at maintaining composure and focus, he doesn't really switch off in the rounds. He isn't as hard to hit as a prime James Toney but his Defence is good, he seems to be very hard to hit clean multiple times as his high hands and active guard combined with his feet make him very very feel...


However in my eyes, and probably most of yours as well, his best attributes are a combination of his footwork, jab and ring IQ, he knows where to be and how to get there, whilst wearing his opponents down with his other strengths. His jab and footwork create a ring general that can dictate most of his foes and let's him set up the straight left to the head and body, all whilst he is doing this he has a game plan prepared for that specific opponent. For example

-Tony Bellew​

He let Bellew ware himself out by over throwing and catching him with small body shots on the way in, knowing he could rely on his chin to take Bellew's punches and would take advantage of his drop in weight to force a stoppage later on in the fight.

-Murat Gassiev
​

Usyk boxed Gassiev's ears off here, he used his ring general qualities I highlighted above to keep Gassiev where he wanted and was peppering him with all the shots he needed to slow him down and make him think twice about attacking
He knew exactly how to beat him and exercised his far superior skills to win

His future potential match ups at HW could cause some issues, Fury especially. I think he will beat Ruiz, Joshua, Dillian and Wilder as well as most others. I think should Wilder or Whyte land there money punch they KO him and if Fury can outbox Usyk (big if) he should win comfortably as well.

Who out of the Polls contestants beat him? I have Ezzard Charles in a razor thin and hard to call fight, Holyfield is a toss up to me.

 

Usyk vs Wilder

To beat Wilder his game plan will need to be on point, and he has to be virtually meticulous all night. The plan I'd use if I was him would be to Nuetralize Wilder's to biggest strengths, his range and power

Usyk is a much better judge and manager of distance than Wilder, he should be able to find his preferred range to keep himself in range and keep the **** away from danger. He'd need to circle to the left and be very active with the jab, his straight left would be in a perfect position to hit the chest and abs of Wilder, this would stop Wilder from gaining leverage on his Right and the body shots would wear down his stamina

He would have to float like a butterfly all night, not switch into walk forward. So it should be like the Gassiev fight, not the Glowacki one. A few tips I'd use if I was him would be to push Wilder's jab inwards and keep him off balance and to parry the jab with the left and take advantage of his quicker feet to set up short hooks below the ribs after parrying the jab. I would not go for a stoppage.

 

Usyk vs Whyte

Activity rate, that's how he should win, back peddle, circle to the left to Nuetralize whyte's hook and keep pumping the jab, after Whyte gets tired, and dealing with Usyks work rate he would be, he could go on Walk forward mode but this is dangerous and would probably get him Countered. I'd pick my shots carefully and use my feet and combos to beat Whyte if I was Usyk.
Usyk would not be wise to clinch with the HWs, he has the gas tank to keep on his toes for 12. He should UD Whyte, bit like the Wilder fight he could be KOed with just a single punch.

 

I agree that Fury beats him, although I don't agree that it would be Boring, in fact I don't really think that Fury Klitschko is boring, it's a great fight to learn from

 

@mark ant
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