Usyk gets a time machine, does he clear the top level of every era and go undefeated

You can’t be serious with that question.

Top 30?

Have you seen today’s current top 10?

 

It’s very interesting to see who has what opinions.

It of course makes for an interesting debate.

I think a prime Ali beats him.

I’m surprised that you think Vitali beats him.

I’m very surprised that you have him beating an 80’s Mike after taking over.

I can’t envisage that at all.

Mike is terribly overrated by most casuals. But in this instance, I can’t see Usyk beating him. It would have been a terrible stylistic match up for Usyk. Awful.

For me, he hasn’t got the attributes needed to have kept Mike off of him. You had to beat Mike down to get rid of him.

Usyk hasn’t got the jab, the inside game or the power to have stopped or deterred Mike from aggressively pursuing him. He wouldn’t have given Usyk the time or space to have boxed.

He’d have suffocated him on the inside. His only hope would have been for Mike to have gassed. But when Mike was fully for and focused, he could fight a fast paced fight for 12 rounds, like the one against Ruddock.

Good post though.

I enjoyed reading it.

 

To be fair, all your points are (obviously) valid - which just goes to show how subjective this all is.

I can see prime Ali beating him as well... maybe 3 times out of 10 match-ups. Ali's movement, speed and general tenacity gives ANYONE problems throughout history, including Usyk. That being said, I just see Usyk working Ali out and not falling for some of the feints and traps Ali would set. So more often than not, Usyk comes out the winner here.

To reiterate, Ali is my favourite HW ever - it hurt a bit to give Usyk the nod

Vitali - yeah, thinking about it, VK might well be too static for Usyk. I think it's purely the size and pressure he'd pile on that would force Usyk into deep waters.

80's Mike - yep I get you. Mike could well bull his way in, not allowing Usyk to be cute with any of his offence. But.... every time Usyk has been asked a question in the ring, he has answered and answered them very well. I think Usyk steps off neatly when Mike pushes the issue, not allowing to crowd him. This is where I think Usyk takes over. Mike would press all fight but I think Usyk solves the puzzle and carries it home.

I've got to stick to my guns on the 80's Mike outcome.

 

Usyk, Parker, Kabayel, Dubois, Fury, AJ, Zhang, Wardley (?), Hrgovic, Ajagba/Bakole (?).

I don't think Frazier (or Norton) would stand a chance against any of them.

Even Andy Ruiz would be a heavy favorite to get a KO.

 

He'd be competitive against the best of the best, I don't think he'd beat them all though.

 

I don't think there's any HW in history who we could say would beat every other top HW that has ever existed.. because everybody always has a boogeyman somewhere.. also there's a lot of great HW fighters that didn't face a wide diversity of styles, so we don't know how they would fare against a particular style.. add in how a PED era HW would be effected if we were to take away his gear & have him fight without it like so many greats of the past did .. also note the gloves are softer now, recovery methods are better & fight frequency is much lower.. meaning much less wear & tear .. one has to ponder how a modern HWs record would look had they faced the conditions their forebears faced.. its much more nuanced than just thinking because he's at the top of the pile in the current 'evolved' era that he's the best ever..

 

Styles make fights - but the only ones I seem him struggling with are:

80’s Tyson
90’s Holyfield
2000’s K-2
Maybe even Povetkin?

I would confidently pick him to defeat all the others, including Lewis and Ali.
Just my 2 cents, and again based on styles make fights.

 

I don't think anyone past, present, or future, would go undefeated against that list.

That being said, Usyk would do very well, probably winning more than he loses. He'd easily crack the top 10 in any era and likely manages to secure at least 1 belt no matter when he competes at some point. What helps Usyk a lot is that he is always in decent shape even when inactive. He makes sure to get his cardio, timing, and keeps his hands sharp throughout most of the year.

Without going through every single name, I think some of the high volume, aggressive pressure guys would be his biggest obstacles. Usyk prefers a less hectic pace and keeping things at mid range. He has enough power to make you respect him and can take a shot, but style wise idk if he would be able to deal with relentless pressure from someone with good head movement and a consistent body attack. That's a dead breed at HW today. Perhaps a fight with someone like Andy Ruiz could give us a better a idea. In the other hand, Usyk would give the movers and technicians nightmares as he's extremely hard to outbox.

 

Ruiz has much faster hands than Chisora, better defense, head movement, sharper body punching, better technique. I would only give Chisora the edges in stamina and volume, he's fairly mediocre in a lot of ways.

There's literally no one other than Ruiz today who could give us an idea on how Usyk handles a throwback pressure fighter with quick hands. Regarding Ruiz's feet, it's not as if Usyk is going to be pulling an Ali or Holmes constantly moving at blinding speed gracefully around the ring. Plenty of people who aren't particularly fast can get close to Usyk, including Chisora whose no speed demon.

 

Another good post mate.

I enjoyed reading it.

We’ll simply have to agree to disagree.

I don’t think that Usyk has anything for Mike.

But this is the beauty of the sport.

I think Usyk is better. And that after he’s retired, he may well rank higher. But that has nothing to do with a head to head fight.

It’s like where Thomas Hearns was much greater than Iran Barkley, yet he couldn’t beat him across 2 fights.

Styles make fights.

Again, IMHO, Usyk has no attributes to have kept Mike from pressing him back and suffocating him.

No jab to keep him off. No inside game. No power to stop or deter him.

A horrible fight for Usyk stylistically.

We just need someone to build us a time machine.

 

No idea why you're always triggered by Ruiz and reply to me every single time I bring him up.

 

You don’t think that Ken Norton or Joe Frazier would have stood a chance against guys like Daniel Dubois and Fabio Wardley?

Ha!

Have a word with yourself.