Is Usyk slowing down?

[SUBZER0ED]

Usyk is not a spring chicken, and AJ revealed a kink in his armour; the body. Body shots bother Oleksandr quite a bit.

[Kris Silver]

Maybe slightly but he had to get back to that weight, having lost it in the war.

That probably took something out of his athleticism.

Fury is 34 himself. So barely anything in it. You could argue the alcohol, drug and obesity on Tysons side will have put wear and age on the body, which could still catch up with him.

I favour Fury only because it's unlikely Usyk can hurt him. If he can take Wilders hit's he should be able to evade AND/OR march forwards. That's a big problem for Usk. Literally.

[kafkod]

His wife said he lost 10kl (22lb) while he was in Ukraine and in the 2 interviews I saw of him just after he left, that looked about right. Maybe he put that weight back on again too quickly and his body wasn't so well adjusted to it? He did his whole camp in the Middle East during the hottest months of the year. Maybe the heat, which he won't have been used to, took something out of him?

But the main reason for him slowing down and tiring more quickly than in the first fight was the brutal body punches AJ was landing. You could see they were affecting him, and I'm not just talking about the one that went below the belt. Body shots like that take the strength out of a fighter's legs, especially a 35 year old fighter like Usyk.

[_Rexy_]

Usyk is not a spring chicken, and AJ revealed a kink in his armour; the body. Body shots bother Oleksandr quite a bit.

Body shots bother everyone. It’s not a ***** in his armour, he was getting hit to the body by someone 30lbs heavier than him.

In fact, the way he dominated round 10-12 after the 9th would say body shots don’t bother him nearly as much as the Hearniacs have implied the last couple weeks.

[QueensburyRules]

His wife said he lost 10kl (22lb) while he was in Ukraine and in the 2 interviews I saw of him just after he left, that looked about right. Maybe he put that weight back on again too quickly and his body wasn't so well adjusted to it? He did his whole camp in the Middle East during the hottest months of the year. Maybe the heat, which he won't have been used to, took something out of him?

But the main reason for him slowing down and tiring more quickly than in the first fight was the brutal body punches AJ was landing. You could see they were affecting him, and I'm not just talking about the one that went below the belt. Body shots like that take the strength out of a fighter's legs, especially a 35 year old fighter like Usyk.

- - Right uppercut on the beltline completely legal. Ref missed it and Usyk with a great acting job selling it to buy time.

Maybe a Ukrainian acting career his immediate future.

[champion4ever]

Well, he is more than 20 lbs heavier and slower at Heavyweight than he was at Cruiserweight when he weighed only 200 lbs. So the answer is yes; He is slowing down. However, he is still much faster and quicker than the average heavyweight because he is naturally a lot lighter and smaller than them.

[StoptheFight]

Don't get me wrong, he was still far too quick and agile for AJ to handle, and pretty much everyone else for that matter, but to me he didn't look as fast as he did in the last fight..

Obviously his preparation was hampered due to the war but the man is 35 with a style that relies heavily on his movement, and legs are always the first thing to go

Thoughts?

Of course, you could see it. Fighters don't get better in their mid to late 30s. they may be more refined and choose their spots better, but in terms of speed and coordination, that peaks at around the mid 20s for most under 160 and late 20s for those 160 and above.

[kafkod]

- - Slugs as U and U ilk are the last to know anything about boxing, but I doubt he returns to boxing unless someone offers $100mil. He's a patriot with bigger fights than the ring.

What Usyk did is take a near Ali beating to the body like Foremen did to Ali back when. After Foreman, Ali was operating at 60% and looking shot in half his remaining fights, the Wepner and Shavers fight being the worst that probably cost him 20 IQ points and guaranteed early disability and dementia.

Who the hell today gets beat by Neon Leon, I mean c'mon...

Some of the replay footage after round 6 (I think) and round 9, when AJ had Usyk backed up against the ropes, reminded me of Foreman bludgeoning Ali's body during the rumble in the jungle.

[mrbig1]

Love the comments so far. this fight was not how good Usyk was but how bad AJ is. AJ has not been the same since Ruiz KOed him. He has loss 3 of his last 4 fights. He can still make a couple of bucks if he fights Wilder. That will be more of a side show than a fight.

[kafkod]

- - Right uppercut on the beltline completely legal. Ref missed it and Usyk with a great acting job selling it to buy time.

Maybe a Ukrainian acting career his immediate future.

The replay clearly showed it went in well below the waist. You can't just rely on a coloured band around the top of a pair of trunks to tell whether a punch is low or not. Where it lands on the body, not the trunks, is what matters.