Poll - Who actually gives Usyk the toughest challenge? Dubois? Parker? Kabayel?

Kabayel proved he can take a punch. How many guys can get up off the canvas that quickly after taking a Zhang punch flush like he did?

And he's proved he can work the body as well as if not better than anybody in the division. And if you'll recall, Fury's effectiveness in those early rounds of his first Usyk fight was due to body shots; he laid a bit of a hurtin' on Usyk's body which you could see when Usyk was walking back to his dressing room post-fight.

Yes, Usyk's no Zhang; he's 10X faster, with the best ring smarts in the biz today. But if Usyk were unable to totally befuddle Kabayel, and Kabayel were able to get to him with those (above-the-belt) body shots, I could see a very interesting fight there.

 

Easy work for Fury

 

Among the 3 I think that Kabayel, with his important workrate and constant body work, could represent the most dangerous opponent for Usyk.

 

Parker because he is the more cultured, intelligent fighter and well rounded stylistically.

I like Kabayel but he is getting absurdly overhyped on this forum. He is not as proven as either DDD or Parker.

 

I think Dubois is closest to beating him because of his power.

 

Or is that you're absurdly underhyping him?

 

Kabayel . He could punch usyk the colors of the ukrainian flag into his body and that is exactly what usyk fears .

 

Kabayel. Usyk got bailed out not getting officially knocked down by Dubois from a body shot. Kabayel is an excellent body puncher. I'm not saying he would beat Usyk for sure but he would certainly give him the toughest fight out of the 3 in my opinion. However, I think Dubois is on a great roll right now and has solid wins over AJ and Hrgovic. I think he would certainly have a chance in a rematch against Usyk.

 

Body shots are Usyk´s big weakness.

 

I would say Parker. He’s the only one with the movement to try and stay with usyk. I think the others would spend their time trying to establish their distance and realizing usyk doesn’t let them get set.

 

I'm gonna go with Parker. I still think that Usyk beats him mind you, I just think that he has a slightly less easy time getting it done.

My logic is that Parker's the most well rounded of the bunch. He doesn't have any one thing he does particularly great, but he does it all well enough. I think he could move with Usyk for a good chunk of the fight and land some pretty decent shots when he sits down on them, but ultimately he'd lose in a similar way to the Joe Joyce fight.

Dubois is probably the most dangerous because he carries huge power, and in boxing all it takes is one, especially at heavyweight, but even with the extra sand in Usyk's hourglass, I still think he pitches a shutout until Dubois has to quit. Probably sooner than last time, since he's carrying around so much more weight now and the confidence from his recent string of wins will likely have him trying to do nothing but pressure from the get go, resulting in him tiring out sooner. So, I think Dubois is the most dangerous because of his power, but in terms of giving an actual challenge, nah.

Kabayel's also pretty good and has shown an ability to adjust his plan if need be, and he displayed a hell of a set of whiskers by getting up from a hard, clean shot from Zhilei Zhang. But I dunno, his best weapon is the body work, and while it has worked wonders on his last three opponents, I just don't think he'd have the same success with someone mobile, let alone the best mover in the division. Couple that with his defense leaving a lot to be desired and openness to counters, and I feel like we'd see something similar to how the Bellew fight went and how the first fight with Fury nearly went. Some early success followed by Usyk making the adjustments to eventually tire him out and get a stoppage from an accumulation of punishment.

So, I'd say Parker is the one who presents the most challenge, followed by Kabayel and then Dubois in dead last, but presenting the most danger despite that.