This is a past his prime Usyk...can you imagine if he was in his 20s/early 30s?

This is what I keep telling them. I've been watching Usyk for 17 years and I know how good he was in the amateurs, WSB, during his early pro fights, his CW reign, the first half of his fights at HW, and the second half.

The first time I saw Usyk was in the 2008 Beijing Olympics vs the home representative and it was a great introduction to him because he was in a flow state, throwing every punch in the book, showboating, and having fun hitting his opponent at will. I recorded it on VHS but I lost the tape years ago.

Go watch the WSB Usyk. Then compare him to the Usyk of his first 9 pro fights. Then during his CW title reign. He looks noticeably different during each of those stages of his career and the CW Usyk was so much better than the HW version. He was much faster, more fluid, accurate with razor sharp reflexes and reaction times. That added weight really detracts from him in numerous different ways and age has obviously taken its toll too.

He used to be a 207-211lb mongoose/Loma hybrid and certain punches have disappeared from his arsenal. He used to throw these scything uppercuts during his first 9 pro fights

Don't forget he's had a lot of different head trainers for someone of 23 fights

 

Thanks, yeah I've been saying this for a long time. Usyk was much better in many ways when he was younger

Yeah, people forget that Chisora was essentially Usyk's official real fight at HW since he moved up from CW because late notice sub Witherspoon only turned up to shell up and survive

Chisora is a horrible introduction to HW boxing for your first real fight at HW as a pro. There's a reason why Belly, J-Park, and Whyte needed two attempts to do a much better job on him than the first time albeit he was beating Whyte's ass prior to the stoppage in the rematch

And Chisora trained the best part of a year to prepare for Usyk and it was a shoebox sized ring too

Totally agree. He's clocked the game twice over, won everything there was to win, and he's earned crazy money vs AJ and Belly and it's been a ridiculous amount in his last two fights. And he's 38 y/o in a couple of weeks and he's been past his best for years