Who had their chance?
The 14 guys he's fought?
See why that's an issue now
Everyone had the chance to be the opponent. Even Dubois managed it.
That's how sports work. To be the best you don't have to beat everyone - just the best of them.
Respectfully disagree, mate. I am coming out of Rico's hard situations in kickboxing - he barely has 2 KO losses there. We also add the open scoring, which was unseen. There was everything that could be wrong with this fight, so if anyone out there, sanctioning bodies or the noble knight on a white horse, Usyk, has any dignity, rule it NC.
But this was nearly 33 minutes in. He was totally gassed and, in hindsight, had eaten some horrible uppercuts throughout the fight. Brave effort, but he was finally broken.
It's not often you see a man take every single punch that's thrown. When Usyk had him cornered at the end he didn't have the ability to avoid a single shot. Just because Usyk doesn't throw big wide shots doesn't mean that he wasn't being badly damaged
I didn't necessarily agree with the cards but they were a lot closer to the truth than Coppinger's.
There's absolutely not going to be a NC. It's a win with a stoppage that was out of order. Nothing particularly unusual there but he did eat some serious shots.
"In all likelihood", Usyk was losing the fight, but as we saw, the judges took care of that too. The referee stopped the fight after the bell and let Usyk land several punches after that. He could have called a second knockdown, but no...
The thing with the age isn't solid - Rico isn't a lot younger.
How is that when Dubois landed the alleged low blow, Usyk apologists are saying that even if it was ruled a knockdown, he would have stood up (although he was crawling like a beaten woman), but Rico was finished in this fight, while he was about to have 1 minute between the rounds and rest?
Rico was finished before the uppercut landed. He was done and then Usyk took advantage.
I thought he deserved to see the start of the 12th, or to at least let his corner decide if he could come back out.
I'm not quite so convinced the scorecards weren't right. I didn't score round by round so I'll need to watch again, but the DAZN scoring definitely had a "he did surprisingly well so he gets the round" slant.
He won't fight Rico next, he'll fight Kabayel. Agit isn't going to step aside.
Rico may get another fight but he'll never get a better chance of beating Usyk.
He should be negotiating another big fight, as Ngannou did, and cash out on what he did against Usyk, as Ngannou did.
Ali had Parkinson's
Usyk doesn't have Parkinson's and is on PED'S
Usyk will be diminishing. He's not being exposed at 39. They had their chance to expose him and failed. His place in the greats is already assured.
And obviously he's clean, in boxing terms.
True. How many games would a non tennis player win against Novak Djokovic in a tennis match?
Obviously it just couldn't happen, whereas in the heavyweights you can find a freak of nature that has attributes that can test a seasoned champion boxer.
I mean, Rico is pretty much how you'd build a heavyweight if you could. He got taken lightly and he still got beaten.
This is kind of why boxing is so great. Someone can have a great night or a puncher's chance... but the cream still rises to the top. Usyk has beaten all of the people who could have taken their chance in a sport that rewards taking a chance. That's truly great.
You don't get to knock Novak out of a tournament with a couple of great shots.
Usyk is perhaps the most overrated fighter of our era.
After the Dubois win, many said he better than Ali and the other greats.
But I'm glad Rico exposed him.
Usyk was a good HW champ during a weak era of that division, but he was far from being one of the ATGs.
I don't even know why he was so high on the P4P list. He literally fought once a year. I wonder where the writers will put him now.
He's nearly 40 and clearly didn't take it seriously for whatever reason (which is definitely his fault). And he did win the fight.
We rightly excuse Ali's losses after about 35. I think Usyk gets some leeway at nearly 40.
Usyk's first fight against Joshua was an engrossing, high level, technical fight against a recognised top 1 or 2 heavyweight. Most on here claimed it was going to be an easy fight for Joshua (presumably to diminish the achievement in the event he beat Usyk). Usyk was outstanding that night - in my opinion the peak of his career.
I don't quite buy the Fury second career. It was the house built on the sand that was Deontay Wilder's fake resume. But he was recognised as top 1 or 2. He was a very tough size matchup for Usyk in which he displayed brilliant skill.
Dubois may well go on to have a great career. Certainly he's a top heavyweight with incredible experience for his age. I think those two wins against a prime Dubois will age very well.
So basically, you're talking shit. At least two of them go into the Hall of Fame. Possibly 3 depending on Dubois' career. And he beat then all very well... two times around.
We are at the end for Usyk. He probably didnt train properly and didnt take Rico seriously but Usyk is at the end of the line either way. He may have one really good performance left in him but I doubt it although I think if they rematch he will handle Rico fairly handily. He has been battling huge guys for years and eventually it will wear you down and the fact he is almost 40 years old adds to it. He should retire honestly, this was a black eye for boxing and really should have never happened. I dont understand why it happened at all.
Absolutely.
Usyk has never been a corner cutter. Regardless of opponent.
He's now done it once and it's the beginning of the end.
I always remember the post fight analysis of Lewis v Vitali. They said that as you get older you think you're training just as hard, but it's just that it's getting harder to do. I suspect that's where Usyk is at.
On the plus side, he'll still be very good and I think he's the sort of character to take on proper challenges even if that means passing the torch as a good champion should.
But they'll be seriously looking at their exit strategy after that.
I can't embed the image (I don't know the forum returns an error), but here are the scorecards: HJCn6JXWwAA2_Mj.jpg (1200×837).
Interesting. So Usyk would have been clear on 2 cards and square on the other going into 12.
It might be one I try to rewatch objectively. I definitely thought Usyk was doing a lot worse than we expected but not quite as bad as was being made out.
If the referee knew the scores or felt Usyk was up then the stoppage would make a bit more sense. No point risking him being splattered when he can't win.
Like I said, a hard fight to score objectively in the moment.
Almost as hard as posting a few sentences on this POS website without being blocked by ads or redirected to other websites. Anyone got any tips? It's out of control.
I think Torrez would do better against Dubois than Wardley did. He probably wouldn't take as many punches.
He certainly wouldn't take as many punches. He'd be out early.
I didn't know how anyone ever saw this guy as any kind of threat.
Was it just desperation for a relevant American heavyweight?
Rico won about 8 out of those 10 rounds. He was about to lose 11th with 10-8.
Sure, the apologists will say Usyk got old - well, Rico isn't much younger and had 3 times as many fights as Usyk, outclassing him at his own game.
Will be interesting to see the cards.
I didn't score it by round and I was as caught up in the shock of the moment as everyone else. I'm sure Rico was up, but I also think that in these kind of fights the favourite doesn't really get credit for the punches they are landing.
Usyk was poor, Rico was great, but I didn't think Coppinger's fan friendly card was realistic.
I think we saw a complacent Usyk, and I never thought I'd say that. It's the first flaw we've really seen. He wasn't in shape.
Rico was something else. The movement looked awkward but it was movement and there was lots of it. Movement gives the same problem regardless of whether it looks textbook or not. And he maintained it pretty well for 10 rounds - unbelievable stamina at that size.
He had surprisingly fast hands and his punching technique was good. And his clinching work and inside work was strong.
Good chin, good grit.
But an in shape Usyk gets to grips with him earlier. His movement was poor and he couldn't create the angles often enough for the obvious uppercut that was there all night. Rico's defence wasn't all that - if he was turned around into the ropes or the corner then he simply held his hands in front of his face. It was there for Usyk but he couldn't move enough to get it done... it took Rico tiring for it to be presented to Usyk rather than him taking it.
Feels like this is setup for Usyk to be still holding belts when the winner of Fury Joshua comes calling.
There's good money there for one of them to go 0-3 against him in his farewell.
I have no issue with Usyk having this Rico fight. I have a serious issue with the orgs approving it, just as I did when the WBC allowed Fury to fight Ngannou. They should be stripped.
Usually there's some strategic angle... it's the best fight he can make, most money he can earn etc.
In this case I just think that he's a double hard bastard who took the hardest fight imaginable as a voluntary and will take it as a challenger.
Good luck to him. Every chance he gets beaten up worse but he won't care about that. He's one tough fucker.
Also a chance that he nails Dubois and he quits. Although everyone is banging on about Dubois' heart - he got hit twice in that fight and shit his pants both times. The same Dubois is still there. You just have to force it to come out.
The only other thing to add is that if he's getting battered, please pull him out. He won't quit.
Doesn't really matter. It's in no-one's interest.
I suspect that if you put him in with the old guard then you'd see a massive gap in speed. That's why the old boys don't fight up and comers like him.
Likewise experience matters. He will improve and really doesn't need the risk that he'll be old-manned by a seasoned top level fighter.
Yeah he's good enough, but neither he nor the potential major opponents need the fight.
He'll be given old boys with respectable names as they drop off. Whyte was perfect.
Parker wasn't clearly 100%, he was doing coke lines the week before.
Wardley is a fun yet limited fighter, as all his fights have shown. His rock em sock em approach was not going to work always, especially against skilled boxers who could deal with his power and know how to use a jab.
You go in the ring and you're there to be judged. History will show that he took on Wardley and lost. If he didn't prepare right then that's on him. Whatever goes into the ring - that's the fighter, with all their shortcomings regardless of why they have shortcomings.
Fabio is great to watch, one of my favourite fighters. He's born again hard.
But you're right he's really limited. I think it's dangerous sending him into fights with trained big men with decent skills.
Well matched from a barnstormer perspective - but big gap in skill level.
I really don't know where Fabio goes next. He can't fight at this level. It suited Warren and others to badge him as this Wilder type after the Huni fight but that understated just how amateurish he looked. He got punched from corner to corner for 99% of the fight.
I don't know how he did what he did to Parker. I've always defended Parker but I think he has to own the fact that Wardley was able to box with him.
This Dubois fight was very dangerous. A skilled and trained boxer with real power. I've no interest in seeing Wardley go to that kind of level again. It was uncomfortable watching him have no idea how to set up our change up his right hand - he just threw the same massive punch over and over without moving into range.
So what, he steps down a level? Can still make good money I suppose.
the corner knows their guy the best, if they want the ref to let it roll to its conclusion they need to take responsibility for what happens, they are actually talking with him between rounds
Exactly what they're being criticised for - they should know better than anyone that Fabio isn't quitting. And they should know at what point they would pull him out of a fight. And they should be watching for that during the rounds.
There's a point where it's far too dangerous and there's a point where it's not worth the risk anymore because he's too damaged to win.
They let him go beyond both of those points. He shouldn't have finished that fight without any chance and after taking round after round of pointless beating. I understand that one shot can change things in the heavyweight division but all those shots he ate have changed his life. I'm struggling to believe that kind of beating isn't life altering.
I don't blame Foster. Wardley was fighting back and was passed by the doctor. Foster did exactly what he should.
I can understand Ben's view that he's always got a chance while he's swinging, but there was no point in those last couple of rounds where he didn't look spent, in pain and unable to win. It wasn't just that shaky walk.
Clearly Wardley wasn't going to quit. He went well beyond what he should have been allowed to do.
Looking forward to seeing him interviewed.