Comments Thread For: Usyk's Promoter: We'll Do Our Best To Get Joshua By End of 2019

[JakeTheBoxer]

Usyk is taylor made for AJ. Easy victory.

[filup79]

The WBO mandatory is close to being called (why is is not Povetkin ?? hes #1, last I heard it doesn't count??) the current thinking is they'd say Whyte but they could say Whyte vs X in eliminator first. If Usyk moves up late he'll be behind Whyte if say before Whyte can be taken care (depends on Wilder\ Fury winner) then presumably they might order Whyte vs Usyk.

We could in theory have
AJ vs Wilder\ Fury
AJ vs Whyte mandatory WBO

Obviously I've assumed AJ beats Fury ;-)

Povetkin chose to go the WBA route which negates him from being the WBO mandatory. Usyk would take priority as WBO mandatory once he decides to moves up. The WBO won't call for an eliminator for a champ that moves up. If Hearn wants AJ/White next, he might have trouble If the WBO calls for AJ to fight his WBO mandatory after Povetkin, Hearn would have to pay Usyk step aside money if he is made WBO mandatory.

[HI-TECH Boxing]

The WBO mandatory is close to being called (why is is not Povetkin ?? hes #1, last I heard it doesn't count??) the current thinking is they'd say Whyte but they could say Whyte vs X in eliminator first. If Usyk moves up late he'll be behind Whyte if say before Whyte can be taken care (depends on Wilder\ Fury winner) then presumably they might order Whyte vs Usyk.

We could in theory have
AJ vs Wilder\ Fury
AJ vs Whyte mandatory WBO

Obviously I've assumed AJ beats Fury ;-)

Who knows how long he'll have to wait to get his title shot though.
It may just be easier and faster to get the WBA regular belt. If you are going to wait then why not wait while having a belt?
Even if it's not super meaningful.

[kafkod]

I think fans often want to bestow all powers onto their favorite fighters and not concede any weaknesses. I liked Usuk the first time I saw him and have always had an appreciation for big guys who respect their craft the way he does. Because of that, I want to see him in situations that play to his strengths. HW is not part of that. I'll go on record as saying that AJ would/will hurt Usyk, badly. I don't want to see that.

You don't need power to keep these Heavyweights off you.
You can use speed and footwork, and be intelligent.

Throughout history smaller men have moved up to Heavyweight and conquered, or at the very least competed fairly well at, Heavyweight.
I think people tend to overrate Heavyweights, because it's one of the most beloved divisions. They see the best guys there as invincible monsters, but they are very beatable. They are clumsy, slow, and their stamina isn't the greatest.

What if Joshua catches Usyk? Well, what if Joshua catches Wilder or Fury? They have the same chance of getting KO'd. They need to figure out how to win and avoid getting KO'd. Whether it's to get to AJ first or to out-box him and out-smart him. It won't be any different.
The Heavyweights have power to KO anyone.

If you want to be great you need to do great things. Beating fighters in their prime that out-weigh you by 50 or so pounds is something special.
I don't want to see someone fight most of their top opponents past their prime and then have everyone fall for it and praise them for it.

That's exactly the way I think about it. If any HW in the division gets caught clean by the likes of AJ or Wilder, they are going to get hurt, and probably KO'd.

Usyk is already coming into the ring around the same size (weight) as Wilder, and will almost certainly be bigger than him when he moves up and stops cutting to 200lbs.

He is 6' 3" with 78" reach, and I'm sure he'll be just as ripped at HW as he is now, and coming in around 225/230lbs, maybe?

That's not too small for a HW, even by todays standards. He won't be blasting guys out with one shot, but neither are the Fury cousins, and I would give both of them a reasonable chance of beating either AJ or Wilder.

[kafkod]

Povetkin chose to go the WBA route which negates him from being the WBO mandatory. Usyk would take priority as WBO mandatory once he decides to moves up. The WBO won't call for an eliminator for a champ that moves up. If Hearn wants AJ/White next, he might have trouble If the WBO calls for AJ to fight his WBO mandatory after Povetkin, Hearn would have to pay Usyk step aside money if he is made WBO mandatory.

Remember, Usyk's promoter will be working with Hearn now, not against him. They probably already have Usyk's path to AJ planned out .. depending on fight results going to plan, of course.

[Marvlus Marv]

Not sure why Team Usyk are so confident so soon. Surely he'll need a couple of seasons to acclimatise to the 6' 5 and 240 lb guys? Sounds like he feels. Very feels.

[Noelanthony]

I think he's so far ahead of AJ in boxing IQ, mobility and skill that he might just be able to do it. Obviously the size is huge and one punch could make Usyk overly defensive or worse - knock him out/hurt him badly.

I'm not sure Joshua has the ability or mobility to truly close the gap on Usyk. Usyk's use of angles and his feet are so good. His power won't register with Joshua though so I think his defense will need to be tighter than normal if Joshua throws caution to the wind.

I think Usyk will be up about 5-1 after 6.

But get knocked out in the 7th. Honestly hestands more chance beating Wilder because they are similar in weight and Wilder isn’t a busy fighter plus he can’t box for s#hit so if he stays away from his right hand he wins easily.

Don’t get me wrong he has the ability so long as he stays out of harms way to cruise to a points victory against Joshua though I believe it will be tougher for Usyk because AJ is a unit and he is more busy than Wilder and imposes himself physically on fighters. However the fact that he hasn’t had one fight at Heavyweight it’s disrespectful to say he will beat anyone but hypothetically if he can make the transition , physicality, power he will be ok

[chrisJS]

But get knocked out in the 7th. Honestly hestands more chance beating Wilder because they are similar in weight and Wilder isn’t a busy fighter plus he can’t box for s#hit so if he stays away from his right hand he wins easily.

Don’t get me wrong he has the ability so long as he stays out of harms way to cruise to a points victory against Joshua though I believe it will be tougher for Usyk because AJ is a unit and he is more busy than Wilder and imposes himself physically on fighters. However the fact that he hasn’t had one fight at Heavyweight it’s disrespectful to say he will beat anyone but hypothetically if he can make the transition , physicality, power he will be ok

I think a Wilder fight would be easy for him. Wilder doesn't have any smarts or skills so beyond a wild swing catching Usyk open (which would be very unlikely) he'd lose almost every minute of every round.

[Eff Pandas]

Good luck with that.

I assume Joshua is on the 2-fight a year schedule from here on out. And obviously Povetkin is next this month.

It would appear Whyte is a certainty for April (as long as he doesn't lose his next fight which I'll assume he'll have before Apr).

And it would seem that the Wilder vs Fury winner will be the favored opponent for late 2019. And this is assuming some mando situation doesn't pop up to push back that schedule.

So best case I think they are looking at 2020 for their shot.

[Eff Pandas]

Not sure why Team Usyk are so confident so soon.

They don't sound so confident to me. "We'll do our best to get Joshua next year" isn't that bold a stance or way to say it.