Who has the best chance at beating 40 yr old Usyk? Jalolov, Opetaia, Itauma, Kabayel?

50/50 on Kabayel and Opetaia

 

Usyk got a shot at Joshua after beating Chisora 3 years after Kabayel did it. In fact that Chisora was the only 'ranked' heavyweight Usyk defeated to get his shot.

Fury barely got past Ngannou. The boxing achievements of Makhmudov and Sanchez were infinitely more than Ngannou's.

But people on this forum telling that Usyk is near to being the GOAT heavyweight, and Fury is the clear number 2 of today. And it's okay to downplay the likes of Kabayel?

It's actually funny how Kabayel outboxed Chisora so easily that to this day people figure Chisora can't have been trying.

The real hype surrounds the Usyks, Furys, Joshua and (formerly) Wilder.
It's impossible to fault Usyk because his brilliance at cruiserweight preceded his heavyweight campaign. But hie resume at heavyweight is a bit thin, and he jumped the queue among the contenders to get his shot at AJ.
As for Fury, AJ and Wilder, they are/were flat out overrated compared to most contenders.

 

Strictly, Usyk had his shot banked from his CW achievements - he chose to fight Chisora as part of his adaptation to the heavyweight division.

And despite being older, it was a much more game Chisora than the one Kabayel fought.

A bit thin? By beating the two guys with far, far and away the best resumes in the division...

But let's rate Kabayel as having some chance of beating him, despite never having beaten anything beyond a gatekeeper.

The way people will twist reality to hype up guys who have been around for ages and done **** all (and guys who are so green they make Shrek feel shy) is just ridiculous.


But that's boxing these days - fighters get hyped and sit around doing nothing special because they get the reputation without having to take the risks... All the while the best fighters who do take the challenges (and have occasional losses as a result) get slated for not being unbeaten.

It's a joke.

And Kabayel has objectively done very little to put him in the same sentence as the likes of Usyk.

 

Parker.

 

Kabayel isn't hyped. Only hardcore boxing fans know who he is really.

His last two fights, he was the underdog. He was expected to get crushed by Makhmudov by almost everyone. So your comments make little sense. And he's fighting Zhang next. Zhang is a very dangerous fighter. Zhang is better than Ngannou and Chisora.

It's guys like Fury fighting the soft touches and getting the hype and resting on achievements from 5 or 10 years ago.

It makes no difference whether we give Kabayel a chance against Usyk. It's opinion only. But there is no need to dismiss his achievements, he's a legitimate contender fighting solid opposition lately. There's no hype, just consideration of him as a contender.

I think Kabayel Zhang is a good fight 50-50.. Zhang might splatter him. But they both have better records over the past 2 years than Fury or Joshua have. Neither of them has ever been annihilated by a fat Mexican or humiliated against an old MMA fighter.

 

No doubt this year we will find out exactly what Kabayel is all about after cementing his place amongst the contenders in 2024. As long as the Saudis are involved in the Heavyweight division there will be a lot of good fights getting made in 2025 and beyond hopefully .

 

If Kabayel looks good vs the Big Bang, and wins, then he jumps up ahead of everyone on the title train aside from the winner of DDD/Parker IMO.

 

That's precisely the point - he's performed well against a couple of guys who are barely gatekeeper level, at best...
That's not what makes a contender, let alone "cements" a fighter as one.

If he gets a big fight made, we'll see if he lives up to the current hype.

Regardless of who fights who, no fan could object to an "amen" to that!

 

This is precisely the problem - it's nonsense, sorry, it just is.

He's been fighting mediocre opposition lately and hasn't got anywhere near the resume or recent form to justify putting him up as any kind of contender, let alone as a "legitimate" contender.

As for "There's no hype", that couldn't possibly have followed a sentence that better demonstrated how overhyped he is right now.

 

Moses would toy with Allen and old timer Takam.

 

AJ out-pointed Parker and Usyk out-classed AJ, Parker doesn`t throw or land enough shots to keep up with Usyk`s constant pressure.

 

Moses is the future of the heavyweight division.

 

I agree Moses would beat Allen but everyone said Fisher would destroy Allen and the odds for Fisher to win was like 1/16. Jheez I did not realise Takam was that old at 44, I thought he was like 39-40 - I'll give you that although it was not too long ago he beat a hype job with a great amateur pedigree in Yoka. Also, Takam will put up a good fight still and is tough.

 

I have to agree but if Parker boxes Dubois's head off in February then it could be interesting as Parker has improved since losing to AJ.

 

Itauma