Usyk: late to HW but why?

Of all the nonsense people who don’t know boxing throw at Usyk, there’s one thing that always made me wonder too. Why did he spend the best years of his career as a CW? I’ve only ever heard talk about how he adored Ali since he was a kid, and how becoming undisputed at HW has always been his ultimate goal. So why bother with CW then? Some people called him a weight bully at CW, which makes zero sense when these same people now call him too small for HW. But I always thought he was just the type of guy who is right on the edge of CW/HW weight naturally. In 2013, he looked very much alive at 212 when he schooled everyone in the WSB. We also know how he toyed with Wlad in 2015, meaning he could have been a force in HW right from 2013. Why did he then go down to 199 to fight as a CW until 2019? CW doesn’t have the same money or reputation as HW, and he only talked about becoming a HW champion anyway. Yet he only became a HW at 32, which obviously meant even back then that he couldn’t build a really deep HW resume. He became a unified champion quickly and will most likely beat Fury too, but he still won’t have fulfilled his full HW potential. Does anyone know why he chose to go down that route?

 

Is it though? He talked about struggling to keep his weight under 200. If you look at him, he was shredded with a very low body fat percentage at 199. It's most apparent against Huck. I never agreed with this idea that he is not a natural HW. If anything, he was always a very big CW. In fact, he looked and moved very much at a natural weight at 212 in WSB. Just look at how many people called him a weight bully at CW after he toyed with the likes of Joyce or Fa with ease in WSB.

 

This idea was always a thing only his detractors entertained. There are huge differences in inactivity and inactivity. Between his stepping up in weight, getting injured several times in camp, contracting COVID and fighting for his home country during which he lost 20 lbs he needed to get back too, I don't know why would anyone seriously ask that. I mean, these things are pretty well known and Usyk's track record speaks for itself. No nonsense, fighting champions in their backyards without any drama, delay, back and forth or controversy. But the biggest factor in his "inactivity" has always been Fury of course. As Krassyuk said the other day, Usyk has done four camps before preparing for Fury, to no avail. Fury has been ducking him since early 2022, wasting everyone's time.

 

Which is understandable but still a shame. It would have been a great scrap. It's a pity for world politics to mess with sports that way. Not even two years before that Usyk had no problems fighting with a Russian in Gassiev. But obviously war happened in the meantime and that changed things.

 

I've always thought that if anything, he is more a natural HW than a CW. He was always very big for a CW.

He looked much more at his natural weight at 212 in 2013 when fighting in WSB than he did just under 200 as a professional until 2019.

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Also, he was well over 210 when he slapped around Wlad in sparring in 2015. Anyone who can do that can't be called a natural CW who can't mix it with the heavies without some serious bulking up. Usyk could have been a HW all through his professional career hence my question in the opening post.

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