Which of the following would be acceptable to you as Usyk's NEXT fight?

Kabayel and Parker. But did also vote for Wilder (As undeserving as he is), just for the entertainment value.

 

A shadow of a myth.

A guy whose career is defined by fighting undeserving guys whilst ducking those who actually had earned it being gifted a shot whilst he's not even hyped as relevant would be rather ironic... And grossly unfair on almost everyone else available.

The asterisk would be ridiculous, the excuses would be ridiculous, and the nonsense about how prime Wilder would've beaten him would get airtime it doesn't deserve - better to keep the bronze fraud well away from Usyk.

 

1. Parker
2. Kabayel
3. Retire

Nothing else for me.

if it wasn't for how good Usyk looked against Dubois, 3 would be my preferred option - ride into the sunset and let the rest fight it out.

 

I think he's automatically elevated if Usyk vacates, like happened with Dubois. However, I think the likely outcome of the belts scattering is a run by Fury to become undisputed before retirement, because I still think he'd have beaten anybody else on both nights he faced Usyk.

 

Parker and Kabayel would be such a great send off.

If not them id like Wilder (if he beats Chisora)

 

They're going to ruin Ituama if they put him in with Usyk (and Usyk looks as good as he did last time). We might see Usyk get knocked down for the first time, but my bet would be on him sweeping the second half of the fight.

And if Usyk is thinking about inspiring his countrymen, is there any remotely decent Russian heavyweight out there? Because I can't imagine anything being more exciting to Ukrainians than watching Usyk beat up some Russian dude.

 

Parker and Kabayel would be the best sendoff in terms of resume. There'd basically be nothing anybody could say about his resume if he beat both. Only way to make it better would be to beat both of them, beat Ituama, then retire.

 

That's assuming Fury isn't worried he might lose and have his reputation fall further...

I think his heads gone, though I could be wrong - I don't suspect he'll return.

 

Good shout.

 

Fury is staying fit, and making the fact he's staying fit publicly known through his vids. Always posting vids of him jogging. If I'm Fury, I'm thinking I can grab a belt if they scatter.

 

Agreed re Itauma, the best thing for him is to slow down, get rounds in, and develop into a full blown heavyweight. He hasn't even come into his man strength yet at his age.

Re fighting a Russian I really can't think of one besides Makhmudov who hasn't earned it and would get his ass kicked badly. But I reckon he's less focused on inspiring his countrymen than he is keeping the conflict active in western people's minds tbh.

 

I think Fury is genuinely retired. He just likes the idea of a come back more than actually coming back itself.

In his mind he can say "yeah if I came back now I could beat all these bums and take the titles" but in reality there is a tonne of work and risk and he might fail.

But trying to guess Fury's mind is a fools game. Even if he did come back I think he will show his age badly, and his movement won't be there any more.

 

I'd love to see him fight parker, Wilder, and ruiz just so he can beat every champ of recent times

 

Fury might make appearances of staying fit, but that doesn't necessarily mean he'll want to fight again...

If I was Fury I'd be thinking the same as you - but Fury ain't predictable like that. He might well decide that it's better to quit now rather than risk losing again, it depends who he'd have to fight and whether he might lose face if he ducks certain fights....

If it's someone who can't hurt him and stands no realistic chance of outpointing him (Hrgovic, for example) then he might be tempted.
On the flipside, he appears to want absolutely nothing to do with fighting AJ, regardless of how much he might've declined - would he want to risk someone like Dubois, or even Kabayel, who might be much more basic fighters but certainly have the ability to hurt him?

Staying retired might just feel like the safe option to him, his reputation is still excellent and he might just decide it's sensible to leave it that way - and it's not like Fury has a blemish free record when it comes to avoiding the risk.

 

Kabayel is ideal
Parker is also very deserving
And I ticked Itauma because I have a sneaky feeling Turki will force that fight next - and if he looks good against Whyte, then Usyk-Itauma is at least a better fight than yet another rematch

But really it must be Kabayel or Parker. It will not reflect well on Usyk years from now if it goes down in history that he ducked his No.1 and No.2 challengers to pursue yet another rematch against Fury, AJ or Chisora, after he just had an unnecessary rematch against Dubois.