Usyk vs. Bellew wasn't competitive + post fight thoughts

Usyk vs. Bellew reminds me a bit of AJ vs. Povetkin. Competitive earlier on, till the overmatched, older man was overwhelmed.

 

Yeah I think there are definite similarities in those 2 performances.

Povetkin too gave Joshua, the big favourite, a tougher fight than expected and was doing things to trouble Joshua and even winning rounds. But Joshua like Usyk stayed calm, stuck to a game plan, made adjustments and when the opportunity arose ended the fight in brutal fashion.

They are 2 of my current favourite fighters. When or if Joshua/Usyk happens I'm going to be a very happy man. Don't care who wins, I think we're in far a tremendous fight.

 

Round 8, uysk can see bellews tiring body and ups the speed of movement, making bellew flail and miss tiring him more, putting him in the corner hitting him with mutiple lefts, popping the jab, bellew is still trying but his legs are gone so has his power + speed, uysk is literally playing with tone in this round, hes following bellews right body weaves and smashing him the left over and over. 2 vicious on left hands landed in the corner, bellew is on rubbery legs and just trying to get out the way, the inevitable is coming now. bellew slowly moves to his right on to the ropes, uysk puts him on the ropes, bellew tries on more failed attempt at right hand, uysk clips him a lovely 1-2, bellew is seeing stars he cant defend himself another crisp 1-2 and its all over!!

Yeh it was alot less competitive this viewing, bellew did well though, it wasnt like he was out of the fight but uysk was never ever not in a strong position.

 

I don't think this fight answered many question about Usyk's prospects as a heavyweight.

The one thing that Andre Ward mentioned prior to the fight was Bellew's dropping weight at his age. He looked slow. Bellew's counters were so far behind Usyk that they became lead punches.

 

Dropping weight more BS from the hater Ward...

It's called getting in shape.. Bellew was a blob at HW! He has no business in the division Fury & Joshua fight in! None! Ward is a tool... Bellew himself will tell u he was in the shape of his life & Usyk is leagues ahead in terms of his best opponent & he can't make excuses! So why's Ward?! He had a brilliant camp! He went UP for Haye, not DOWN for Usyk.. His best weight IMO is CW & I think Bellew would tell u the same...

Ward just likes to put negative spin on any world class fighters that aren't black, by diminishing Bellew he tarnishes Usyk. He's a *****.. I see right through his BS! He should stop being pissed of at his dad for being white lol

 

I need to watch it back for sure but whilst I felt Bellew was competitive, Usyk always looked comfortable to me. And he had another gear that Bellew couldn't live with. Bellew got tired and Usyk capitalised.

Another thing I learned for sure is that Haye is shot to **** and should never have come back. Prime Haye would have ko'd Bellew.

 

Had bellew winning 4-3 leading to the KO in a very competitive fight.

 

Ward also said that bellew would win ans that he has never watched an uysk fight but heard he is good.
The only thing that showed me is ward is a bitter old man who may have some brain damage from kovalev

 

If a fighter wins 3 rounds it's clearly competitive. Bellew started well, Usyk was too good. That's the story of the fight

 

And he's getting paid to be a boxing analyst for ESPN?
That's hilarious.

 

This. It was clearly a competitive fight, since Usyk wasn't eating Bellew's shots for fun and he didn't change strategies mid fight for the fun of it. Usyk's superior chin and stamina were what made the difference as the fight progressed.

 

Along with his skills and adaptability.

Bellew did well though. Better than a lot of guys with his attributes might be expected to do.

 

Armchair critics want KOs and they want them NOW. Watching one game of football doesn't make an expert, just as watching the Mayweather vs McGregor fight (only) doesn't make someone a boxing afficianado.

Bellew did well but he didn't "trouble" Usyk. He landed a few nice right counters and body shots. Didn't see him get his jab going or his vaunted left hook as they were taken away by Usyk.

Props to Bellew for taking on an ATG CW in his prime. Bellew was probably ready to retire without this fight so very difficult to get motivated and fit to fight.

The fight was competitive until it wasn't. It's like saying you were in a competitive fight for 12 seconds and then you woke up in hospital. Bellew was a lot more competitive than that, however once it was apparent Bellew couldn't hurt Usyk and was under increasing pressure from movement and jabs that led to some significant chin checkers and fatigue it was a very slippery downhill slope.

To learn something about boxing do not listen to the British commentary. Paulie had a few good things to say but the others were comedic. Carl Froch's pre-filled card was extremely funny or disturbing depending on the way you looked at it.

 

Usyk looked good. Bellew was competitive in the first half, gassed and then was promptly KTFO.

That said, I remain unconvinced. I don't see Usyk as the second coming of Ali, so sorry. He just doesn't look that level of quick, that level of fluid to me. His hands don't look that fast relative to the names that he keeps getting mentioned around.

His size is another thing that I'm not 10/10 on relative to other guys and alot depends on it. Sure, boxrec has him at 6'3" or whatever, but everybody knows that's not always accurate nor does it always accurately convey a sense of how big the guy is in terms of stockiness. I would like to see what Usyk looks like standing next to some guys both bigger and smaller than him. Guys that I am more familiar with and have a good sense of their size. In another thread I posted that Usyk would not be competitive vs RJJr and immediately considered that Roy is pretty small. He might be a midget next to Usyk. What would they actually look like standing next to one another? At some point along the size/skill balance curve, the size advantage becomes prohibitive.

Usyk is very good. Perhaps great. Without a doubt a great cruiser. Is he skilled/able enough to overcome the size/power of the upper end of the current HW division? How much size and power does he actually give up to Joshua or Wilder? Maybe not much? Maybe alot? Or even the next tier down. Say Povetkin/Ortiz? Usyk is as tall or taller than those guys (supposedly), but both are bulky and with arguably better skillsets than the top tier.

How good is Usyk at heavy? Today I would pick prime Bowe to beat the crap out of him. That could change over the next couple of years, however.

 

It looked like Usyk was carrying the fight to some degree. He wasn’t throwing the volume of punches he usually does and was picking moments to show his class. Mind you Bellew was crafty enough to keep him honest through the first few rounds. Every time Usyk had Bellew backed up I thought “this is it, he comes the straight left ticket to Disneyland”.

By the end of the 6th Bellew was gone. I was surprised he made it through the 7th. And the KO was brutal. I never had much time for Bellew but had mixed feelings to see him brutally KO’d in his final fight.