Why cant Usyk have success at HW?

[Eff Pandas]

Agree with your overall take. Sure Usyk might not be the undisputed HW champion one day or even a title holder, but with his boxing skills he's gonna be a winning fighter & should easily reach a top ten-ish ranking if not a top five-ish ranking at his peak at HW worst case. Might lose to all the guys some guys are saying he would lose to at HW like Joshua, Wilder & Fury among others, but he's gonna be a competitive guy at HW vs the best guys like the Whyte's, the Ortiz's & Parker's & a few others whatever he specifically does vs specific guys.

Some mfers just love to predict when a boxer will fail at some future date. Some boxing fans are weird in that way. Look at any rbr thread or BPP post-fight thread with anyone who's getting some heat & after a W by that guy you'll see some ****** boxing fan who'll bypass the fight they just watched & fast forward the guy to some fight next or 2 years down the line that they'll think he'll lose lmfao. Some boxing fans are so f#cking weird with that type of sh^t, but its so predictable some nutty mfer will do that after a W.

[boliodogs]

Sure he could. Most of the best heavyweights in history have been no bigger than that and often smaller. Some fans today have convinced themselves that heavier is always better and a good heavyweight must weigh at least 240 pounds but history shows that isn't true. Lewis only weighed 240 when he was old and fat. He was closer to 220 in his prime. Weights of some great champions the day they won the tittle go like this. Ali 210. Louis 197. Johnson 192. Dempsey 185. Marciano 184. Tyson 220, Foreman 214, Liston 214, Frazier 205 Holyfield 205 and so on. Giant heavyweights like Fury, AJ, Wlad and Vitali are exceptions not the rule. Usyk is fast and skillful with a 78 inch reach and he throws twice as many punches a round as AJ and Wilder on average. He is big enough and good enough to have a chance to beat any heavyweight fighting today.

[sicko]

He will be good enough to handle the guys below elite level but the gulf in class between that and elite is HUGE.

Against the elite he has a few things going against him

1. He's not really elusive. Compare to a David Haye who in his prime was able to avoid getting hit for 12 rounds if he didn't want to. That's not Usyk, he takes shots in every fight, he's not difficult to lay a glove on.

2. He doesn't hit that hard, yes I know he ktfo Bellew, so did Adonis Stevenson, Makabu had Bellew on ***** street, so have various 175lb journeymen. Usyk doesn't hit as hard as a prime Haye or Holyfield

3. Unproven chin, now he MAY turn out to have evander holyfield type toughness but i don't know, and I think that's an outside hope.

So you are looking at a guy who the big boys aren't going to fear what's coming back too much, who (in Wilder and Joshuas case) are MURDEROUS punchers who basically knock out or at least seriously hurt anyone they land a clean punch on.

Skill is cool, but Wilder and Joshua have already beaten guys who were more skilled than them AND who were huge punchers.

Personal opinion here, Usyk should forge a dynasty at CW and head north for selected fights, do the roy Jones approach

Excellent break down! Tall task for Usyk at heavyweight...Literally!

[billeau2]

I am quoting Ray Corso "The heavyweight division is an opne division with no minimum weight requirement." Logic follows function and form. There is a reason for this fact.

Cruiser weights are heavy weights that can fight down. You don't need a big punch at cruiser to be a heavyweight. Most fighters adapt and change their approach as needed. You also do not need more size to fight at heavyweight. Gene Tunney was such a great fighter that he could be on a short list in both weight classes, it just so happens that he was, when we add up the chips, so to speak, really a better light heavy/cruiser.

What will determine success for Usyk is the competition he faces, and the ability to use his skills accordingly.