Yes, Usyk is a better boxer than Fury, but Fury's size and the fact that he's actually a freak of nature evens the playing field
"Prime versions of Gassiev, Briedis and Joshua are better than Wilder and an old Wlad." "Usyk's southpaw straight left would have put prime Wlad flat on the canvas." "As far as p4p goes Usyk is miles better than Fury" "resume" What is with these goofy opinions. Even line is fantasy. Gassiev scraped a SD against officially 5'11, 71.5 inch reach, blown up LHW (which he was as late as 25) Lebedev. He lost 11 rounds to Usyk in Russia. He did FAR WORSE than Hunter and Chisora did against Usyk and he has no heavyweight record worth talking about. I highly doubt he'd beat Wallin, let alone Wlad or Wilder. 6'1, 75 inch reach Briedis schooled and sparked Charr, schooled a shopworn Huck and outhustled Perez but got a gift against Noel Gevor and lost to Opetaia. Despite being very money hungry (hence the Jake Paul callouts) he decided to spend the important half of his career at cruiser, rather than the far more lucrative heavyweight division. Why did he do that? The most confident, aggressive version of Joshua went life and death against 41 year old inactive dethroned Wlad in Britain. He wouldn't have beaten active champ Wlad in Germany or Wilder in America, more often than not. At it stands his record away from home is still 0-1, NOMAS7. His confidence was shaken by the Wlad fight (despite winning!) and shattered by Mr. Blobby, whereas Wilder has shown far more tenacity. The Joshua that Usyk beat was two fights removed from getting smashed by Ruiz in the most humiliating defeat in combat sports history. Usyk didn't stop any of his more durable four cruiser opponents, Chisora or Joshua x2. He knows that he's a light puncher even at the top level at cruiser and Wlad had massive power at heavyweight along with 3 inches of height and reach, so Usyk would be pretty cautious. So there's minimal chance that Usyk would drop Steward/post-Steward Wlad (who wasn't dropped between 2005 and 2017), let alone stop him. Height, reach and weight are not absolute advantages: you lose speed, reflexes, agility, co-ordination, balance, stamina and become a larger target as you get bigger, without such a large corresponding increase in durability. If Fury were 45 lbs lighter and 5 inches shorter he'd be much faster, more agile, fitter etc. than he is at his size and those have always been his most freakish attributes. So perhaps he'd still beat Usyk, assuming he does. It's totally unknowable in any case, both men are elite fighters. Fury's record is superior to Usyk's. Fury-Usyk record comparison Fury’s tier 1: Wlad, Wilder x3 Fury’s tier 2: Chisora x2, Cunningham, Wallin, Whyte Usyk’s tier 1: Briedis, Joshua x2 Usyk’s tier 2: Hunter, Gassiev, Chisora
I've said it all along. Fury gets zero credit in hindsight for beating up a feather fisted cruiser he outweighs by 50lbs, who's toughest test at heavy was shot old delboy chisora.
Joshua probably isn't prime .. he never really found his identity. The greener version of him was better. Now he's a wreck... He tried to be Wlad but it didn't work. The WK Fury beat probably still has just enough left to take Joshua... if he had jumped on him in the actual fight he'd have taken him out but the stupid ******* listened to his brother and held back & lost. Gassiev is better technically than Wilder but I wouldn't fancy his chances if they met head-to-head I think he gets knocked out. Too easy to hit.. I don't really get the point of this thread anyway it's just a lot of whataboutisms... you could have just stuck that comment in the other 100 Usyk Fury threads on these recent pages BTW Wilder sparks Joshua.
Agreed Joshua when he was KO artist was much more confident/positive fighter. Ruiz took his soul and he never quite recovered from it.
LOL Exactly when did you get the opinion that Wilder is tier 1? I'd wager sometime after the 3rd Fury/Wilder fight when Fury started talking about retiring. Sacksuckers changed their narrative about Wilder real quick once they realized Fury's best wins are old Wlad and a one armed windmill you lot liked to call Wilder, prior to the trilogy. Other than that, your OP was a fair assessment.
Usyk Manager Says If Fury Fight Does Not Happen April 29, Usyk Will Pursue Mandatory It doesn't seem like a done deal.
