Who is the better boxer? Usyk vs Bivol

The way I see this - at least right now - is that Usyk appears to have more layers and tools to his game than Bivol, but Bivol has his basics honed to such a sharp edge, he has not needed to really show more than he has.

The interesting thing about Bivol is whether or not we really have seen his ceiling - and that we won't know till he gets in with Beterbiev.

And before anyone jumps on me, I'm not equating either Gassiev or Joshua directly to Beterbiev, but Usyk demonstrated in those 3 fights his whole array of talents, prior to the Gassiev fight, and the first AJ fight, there were many questioning how Usyk would be able to cope with the heavy hands & power of Gassiev, and similar - but amplified - power & significant size advantage of AJ.

Bivol showed last night that he could easily deal with the size advantage of Zurdo, but that is IMO not at all the same league as Beterbiev (and Gassiev / Joshua) for Usyk.

As it stands, I'd say that both Usyk and Bivol have sublime fundamentals, with Bivol having a tighter and better defence, but not being as offensively minded as Usyk.

Both are top-drawer technicians, but as it stands right now, we have seen much more of what is in Usyk's locker than Bivol's, and I have to go with Usyk until we see how Bivol deals with the heat of the beast that is Artur Beterbiev - if Bivol can execute his usual gameplan of controlling the distance with his excellent footwork and lead hand ability to take a UD, in a smilar fashion to what Usyk did to Gassiev and Joshua then it becomes a much more compelling argument that Bivol is right up there beside Usyk.

But right now we know Usyk has those intangibles - to the point that many favour him over Fury, just think on that. With Bivol, there is still a bit a question mark in his resume as to who he has beaten that was elite enough to force him to use all the tools and intangibles at his disposal.