Comments Thread For: Oleksandr Usyk ?a great in any generation,? says Frank Warren

[Someone88]

Oleksandr Usyk is the greatest of this generation and he's also one of the greatest in history.

[ONOFF]

Usyk is Great but all his wins are against UK Heavyweights. Usyk is reigning in the weakest era with zero American Heavyweights

It's easy to dismiss today's talent pool, but we could just as easily do the same for every era.

George Foreman holds the record as the oldest heavyweight boxing champion in history. His comeback is one of the most remarkable in boxing, especially considering he had been retired for a decade before returning to the ring in his late 30s. But what does that say about the era he was fighting in?

Are we really supposed to believe that Michael Moorer would have an easy time in today’s heavyweight landscape? What about John Ruiz? Back in the '90s, the best "Euro" fighter America was introduced to was Andrew Golota...a mental midget at best.

[TheIronMike]

Can Usyk beat Tim Witherspoon?.....F' NO! Can Usyk beat Tommy Morrison.....F No!

[ONOFF]

Usyk is Great but all his wins are against UK Heavyweights. Usyk is reigning in the weakest era with zero American Heavyweights

Is the era considered weak just because there are no dominant American heavyweights? What’s so inherently special about American heavyweights, anyway? And where have those legendary American HWs gone? MMA? The NBA? The NFL?

Take a look at the NBA. Who's currently the best player? An "unathletic" Euro guy...Jokić. In fact, his stats are so absurd that we’re forced to compare him to Wilt Chamberlain just to make sense of them. Who else? Most of the top-tier players today are foreign. (Giannis, Doncic, Wembanyama—even though they’re not the majority of the league.)

What if you’ve been sold a lie? A lie rooted in American exceptionalism. The way I see it, competition in the past was skewed in America’s favor. You had Soviet bloc fighters outright banned from participating in the professional ranks, which artificially tilted the playing field.

Ever heard of Alexander Miroshnichenko? He beat the likes of Lennox Lewis and Rid**** Bowe (twice) in the amateurs. His pro career wasn’t anything remarkable, he turned pro late, at 26. but that was common for Soviet athletes. During the USSR era, they were restricted to amateur competition only.

But just think about that for a second. How different could history have been without that ban? Many of these Eastern European fighters either delayed turning pro or never did at all. That absence deeply impacted the global heavyweight scene. Without their presence, the professional ranks lacked true international competition, which likely skewed the historical narrative and the perceived dominance of American heavyweights.

[ONOFF]

No one. America has sports that big men play that give then university degrees and guarantee millions of dollars annually for 9 figure contracts and then more from endorsements. Trying to shame the USA for not having heavyweights other than those who get injured and switch to boxing isn’t the flex you think it is. Reality is far more interesting

So what happened ? Where are american HWs at ? Well, they're still here. it's just that the talent pool is way more diverse today. Oh! and bigger sponsors!(way more money) Boxing sponsorships today are considerably bigger and more diverse than in the 1990s. But the argument, the excuse is that all the best HW potential are in different sports.. That's the rational, that athletic American men gravitate toward the NFL or NBA due to guaranteed contracts, collegiate pipelines, and massive endorsement deals. But the NFL Dominance is cultural, not "global". The rest of the world plays soccer. Tyson Fury makes more money than Dak Prescott. Cristiano Ronaldo is the highest-paid athlete in 2025. Lionel Messi makes more money than LeBron. (who's not even the best, it's Jokic).

[hugh grant]

Usyk is Great but all his wins are against UK Heavyweights. Usyk is reigning in the weakest era with zero American Heavyweights

Nothing wrong with UK heavyweights, lennox Lewis was uk and he weren't too bad.
Fight kabayel and Parker then, they aren't uk

[Oldskoolg]

So what happened ? Where are american HWs at ? Well, they're still here. it's just that the talent pool is way more diverse today. Oh! and bigger sponsors!(way more money) Boxing sponsorships today are considerably bigger and more diverse than in the 1990s. But the argument, the excuse is that all the best HW potential are in different sports.. That's the rational, that athletic American men gravitate toward the NFL or NBA due to guaranteed contracts, collegiate pipelines, and massive endorsement deals. But the NFL Dominance is cultural, not "global". The rest of the world plays soccer. Tyson Fury makes more money than Dak Prescott. Cristiano Ronaldo is the highest-paid athlete in 2025. Lionel Messi makes more money than LeBron. (who's not even the best, it's Jokic).

So I wasn’t referring to the rest of the world, I was referring to where the American heavyweights have gone and it’s an unavoidable truth that bigger men in the USA are simply not going into boxing. The most athletically talented big min are in our two most popular sports

[Oldskoolg]

It's easy to dismiss today's talent pool, but we could just as easily do the same for every era.

George Foreman holds the record as the oldest heavyweight boxing champion in history. His comeback is one of the most remarkable in boxing, especially considering he had been retired for a decade before returning to the ring in his late 30s. But what does that say about the era he was fighting in?

Are we really supposed to believe that Michael Moorer would have an easy time in today’s heavyweight landscape? What about John Ruiz? Back in the '90s, the best "Euro" fighter America was introduced to was Andrew Golota...a mental midget at best.

Let’s speak plainly here, what was the better heavyweight era, the 1970s or this era?

[BirdSong]

So I wasn’t referring to the rest of the world, I was referring to where the American heavyweights have gone and it’s an unavoidable truth that bigger men in the USA are simply not going into boxing. The most athletically talented big min are in our two most popular sports

football is the most popular sport in the world but yet we still see many boxers the size of footballer and noone complains about this sort of stuff all the time either so what gives here

[ONOFF]

Let’s speak plainly here, what was the better heavyweight era, the 1970s or this era?

As I already said above, nostalgia is a seductive liar...but anyone with a shred of honesty must admit that it's easy to dismiss any boxing era. I don't think it's cliché to say that the most effective lies are the ones we tell ourselves. Knowing this, I see no rationale for exclusively dismissing a specific era. It's all subjective, nothing more..Most of the time driven by emotion or because it comforts us in our biases.

The '70s weren't objectively better. If you say: "yes" , it's only because of an emotional attachment to the era...even if you weren't born in it. It's easy to idealize the past or view it through rose-tinted lenses, in other words , through emotionally charged memories that blur reality. A favorite fighter, a childhood hero, or watching bouts with your old man… these aren’t just recollections, they’re emotional anchors.

But they don’t help us assess any era objectively, they trick us into believing it was better simply because we were happier, younger, or more impressionable.
But that doesn’t mean the era itself was superior. it means our relationship to it was. And that’s the trap.

Any kid, teenager, or adult living through today’s era—especially if they’re Ukrainian—will likely grow up viewing Oleksandr Usyk not just as a boxer, but as a national hero. To them, he’s the GOAT, the man who gave their people a semblance of hope amid a time of great struggle.

Carrying the weight of a nation on his shoulders, Usyk’s victories were more than just sporting achievements, know what i mean ?

There will never be another Ali, not because his talent and skills were unmatched or because he faced the greatest competition ever (that’s the myth we tell ourselves), but because of the unique combination of era, timing, and personality that shaped him.