Ward's first win over Kovalev is better than a potential win over Usyk

[Chollo Vista]

Kovalev had the higher KO % and more Top 10 wins than Usyk

[Chollo Vista]

Also, Light Heavyweight has always had better fighters than CW... Let's count the number of P4P fighters in Light Heavyweight vs CW since the year 2000:

Light Heavy - Roy Jones Jr, Antonio Tarver, Glenn Johnson, Joe Calzaghe, Chad Dawson, Andre Ward, Sergey Kovalev

Cruiserweight - James Toney, Oleksander Usyk


What does this mean? Light heavy has always been harder to become undisputed than CW and has always consistently had the better fighters for at least the last 20 years with at least 7 fighters being P4P vs 2 for CW.

David Haye was the undisputed CW champion and still didn't crack The Ring P4P Top 10

Like I said earlier, Tony Bellew was the #7 Light Heavyweight when he got KO'd by Stevenson, he went up to CW and became a champion in the very next fight.

CW has always been a weak division for the most part.

[Real King Kong]

We are talking about Kovalev vs Usyk here. Let's look at Kovalev's Ring Top 10 wins:

Cleverly #4
Hopkins #1
Pascal #3
Mohammedi #8
Pascal #4
Chillemba #7

That's 6 Ring Top 10 wins, including the #1 guy

Let's look at Usyk's Ring Top 10 wins:

Glowacki #3
Huck #6
Bredis#3
Gassiev#2
Bellew - Not ranked

Usyk has 4 Top 10 Ring wins

Every one of those usyk opponents you listed is better than any guy you listed for kovalev, possibly with the exception of Chilemba, who's a solid fighter and probably on par with a couple of those guys. Kovalev's best win was a 50yr old hopkins who got starched by a glorified club fighter his next fight. Names on paper don't always tell the story.

[Illmatic94]

I agree. Kovalev had a killers reputation. he was lil g's bodyguard and all the g strings used Kov to keep Ward away from Golovkin. Usyk is a far bigger man and has an even more decorated resume than Kovalev.. but he's not no boogeyman. If Ward beats him he will just solidify his greatness. but it's a pipe dream Usyk is moving up.

[_Rexy_]

We are talking about Kovalev vs Usyk here. Let's look at Kovalev's Ring Top 10 wins:

Cleverly #4
Hopkins #1
Pascal #3
Mohammedi #8
Pascal #4
Chillemba #7

That's 6 Ring Top 10 wins, including the #1 guy

Let's look at Usyk's Ring Top 10 wins:

Glowacki #3
Huck #6
Bredis#3
Gassiev#2
Bellew - Not ranked

Usyk has 4 Top 10 Ring wins

Usyk couldn’t beat the #1 guy because he is the #1 guy

But Kov beat those six top guys over 36 fights. Usyk beat 4 top 10 guys over 16 fights. And Bellew was only unranked by ring because he moved up to HW. But when he WAS an active CW, he was ranked #3 by Ring.

http://boxrec.com/media/index.php/Th..._Ratings:_2016

[Prince Madison]

If ward thought he could beat usyk, hed have fought him

[Froch_uppercut]

Well if you are of that opinion, then a dominant win over Usyk would absolutely be better than his Kovalev fights.

I tend to agree with you.

Oh yes, definitely a W against Usyk and I’ll tip my cap.

Ward is just making noise - will never fight Usyk.

[Chollo Vista]

Every one of those usyk opponents you listed is better than any guy you listed for kovalev, possibly with the exception of Chilemba, who's a solid fighter and probably on par with a couple of those guys. Kovalev's best win was a 50yr old hopkins who got starched by a glorified club fighter his next fight. Names on paper don't always tell the story.

Say what you want about Hopkins and Kovalev's resume at 175, but ask yourself this question. Why has their only been 2 Cruiserweights to be on the P4P list in the last 20 years (maybe further, I didn't check)? Because the CW division sucks and has always sucked. It's been the weakest division since its inception.

Light Heavy has always been a tougher division to unify in. Why do you think Tony Bellew was never a champ at 175 and as soon as he gets KO'd by Stevenson, goes up and wins a title in his very next fight?

[Chollo Vista]

Usyk couldn’t beat the #1 guy because he is the #1 guy

But Kov beat those six top guys over 36 fights. Usyk beat 4 top 10 guys over 16 fights. And Bellew was only unranked by ring because he moved up to HW. But when he WAS an active CW, he was ranked #3 by Ring.

http://boxrec.com/media/index.php/Th..._Ratings:_2016

Who was the man before Usyk at CW? Did he lose his #1 ranking or retire?

[_Rexy_]

Who was the man before Usyk at CW? Did he lose his #1 ranking or retire?

if you mean lineal at CW, the last two lineal CW champs broke the linage when they moved up to HW (David Haye & Tomas Adamaek)

Ironically though, Haye was beaten twice by another CW champ, Tony Bellew.

If you mean who was the top rated CW before Usyk, it was Lebedev (1) Glowacki (2) and Huck (3) Usyk beat Huck, and Golowacki, and Gassiev beat Lebedev (then Usyk beat Gassiev)