Usyk not big enough? Anyone remember Jimmy Young?

[chirorickyp]

Foreman suffered from dehydration and exhaustion and could not catch the shifty Young. Young did not do enough to take the title from Ali and in a bizarre move even stuck his head outside the ropes a few times. He was given more credit than he deserved in that fight and did not land many big shots. He made Ali miss often but that's it. The focus was more on how Ali was no longer the same fighter after Manila. Young was a slick boring boxer who made you miss and countered well. Well skilled but boring to watch. Big Gerry Cooney used his 6'6 frame and decapitated and retired a washed up version of him.

[CauliflowerEars]

Jimmy Young was 6’2”, 209, and defeated monsters like Ron Lyle and George Foreman using defense and offensive speed. He lacked punching power, and was robbed against Ali and Norton. He beat bigger, stronger fighters with superior boxing skills.

Skills pay the bills right?

Holyfield was 208 when he beat Douglas and defended against Foreman 6 months later. They were 246 and 257, respectively.
So, Usyk is certainly big enough, but the question keeps coming up if his skills are comparable to Evander's.

Many on NSB have been saying there's no chance that Usyk beats today's best HW's. Maybe some in the Top 10, but not the Top 5.
Well I suppose we will see, but that's not my prediction. I predict he will win a World Champion HW belt. I think he will incrementally increase the competition, and do what he needs to do in order to win. I think he's a very smart fighter. He won't be dominating, so that people are in awe of his skills or power, but he'll do enough to get the W.
There's a lot of doubters out there that think Usyk already peaked. I disagree again. He literally cleaned out the cruiserweight division. I think Holyfield's HW era was better than this one. I think Usyk finds a way to increase his power just a bit, and finds a path to the HW title using skills and heart, maybe leaving a couple FOY highlights...

[4truth]

Foreman suffered from dehydration and exhaustion and could not catch the shifty Young. Young did not do enough to take the title from Ali and in a bizarre move even stuck his head outside the ropes a few times. He was given more credit than he deserved in that fight and did not land many big shots. He made Ali miss often but that's it. The focus was more on how Ali was no longer the same fighter after Manila. Young was a slick boring boxer who made you miss and countered well. Well skilled but boring to watch. Big Gerry Cooney used his 6'6 frame and decapitated and retired a washed up version of him.

Young put his head through the ropes in an attempt to keep Ali from continually targeting the back of Young’s head. The bizarre part was how little the ref was willing to do to stop it.

[KillaMane26]

This the heavyweight division. If he cant take a big punch will it matter?

[GhostofDempsey]

Young put his head through the ropes in an attempt to keep Ali from continually targeting the back of Young’s head. The bizarre part was how little the ref was willing to do to stop it.

Exactly this. Ali was known for pushing his opponents heads down, and refs never warned him. Fighters had to do whatever necessary to overcome that dirty tactic. Young out-hustled him that night but came up short on the cards.

[Marchegiano]

Um, yeah, actually I reckon Usyk can do about as good as Young. Which is quite a bit worse than what Usyk's fans are claiming he can do.

Never a champion, mixed resume, some good wins though is not taking the division over or even threatening the top men of it.

[Jubei]

Usyk isn't too small, he weights the same as Wilder and is taller and rangier than Andy Ruiz or Povetkin. He outskills everyone at Heavyweight and he can also take a punch. I don't see any of the elite fighters outside of AJ to step into a ring with Usyk. Fury and Wilder will avoid him like the plague, bet on it.