Whyte: I Don't Think Usyk Will Do Well at Heavyweight

[coneye]

That saying has been disproven as many times as it has been proven

Seen it a million times , a good little en take apart a bad to average big en ,, given two with the same ability , not seen that too often , . Usyk will take apart a few heavyweights with lesser skills , wether or not he does it with the elite , well we will see . I will say though if he can make the move to heavyweight comfortable , he will shake a few up and be a joker in the deck

[leejonesjnr]

Opinions vary and every fool has one.
For me, Usyk moving up is really interesting.
I rate Usyk very highly as a massively skilled, beautifully nimble and highly intelligent boxer.
Whilst I think most would agree that he doesn’t have huge, concussive power, he does have the skills required to land the right punches to force a stoppage against 75% of his opponents so far.
For me the only question is can he keep the giant heavies honest enough whilst he soundly outboxes them? If he can, no current ‘names’ can beat him.

Wilder, well he is dangerous to everyone because he has no traditional boxing skill and no boxing brain, he just runs around swinging his arms wildly. Hard to fault though, as he has delivered 9.8 times out of 10. I see a long night of Usyk evading and popping the head off him with counters.

Joshua is the best traditional boxer in the division and has power and an oft shown second wind. If Usyk can gain enough respect to stop Joshua marching him into a corner and clubbing him to death and the referee isn’t the one from Joshua v Parker, Usyk has a solid chance and may even Jones v Ruiz style embarrass him.

Fury is the least powerful of those mentioned so far and Usyk wouldn’t have to fear a one shot loss. There is a smoke and mirrors at work when it comes to the perception of his boxing ability. It has certainly improved over the years but it is still often an impression of a good boxer rather than good boxing and people see what they want to see. The viral video of him ‘Mohammed Ali-ing’ in the corner against a man 18” shorter who is stood out of range or the hands behind the back whilst opponent is ten feet away etc. The primary danger here for Usyk would be getting clinched to death and drained of energy. If Fury boxes with him, Usyk wins.

Whyte has the power to score a one shot stoppage and is tough enough to soak up a lot of shots and still win when well behind. He also has no shame when it comes to doing what it takes to win (Parker round 12 for example). He has a bit of reach on Usyk but is quite one paced so could be timed and outboxed by a man with suitable skill.

Chisora can’t deal effectively with a mover as we saw last time out. He gets widely outpointed whilst swinging all 12 rounds.

Takam is similar to Chisora but perhaps a more consistent performer.

[tobyh5]

Seen it a million times , a good little en take apart a bad to average big en ,, given two with the same ability , not seen that too often , . Usyk will take apart a few heavyweights with lesser skills , wether or not he does it with the elite , well we will see . I will say though if he can make the move to heavyweight comfortable , he will shake a few up and be a joker in the deck

It has been going on throughout boxing and it is one of the biggest misnomers in boxing, or too often repeated phrases which falls under scrutiny.

You can go back to the early boxing days - Bob Fitz v James J, Holyfield v Bowe in the 90s, Spinks beating Holmes in the 80s at heavyweight.

In fact, how about a thread to see how many people can list, examples of perceived equal, or at least both seen as elite level, where the smaller guy won eg Hagler v Leonard, Leonard v Duran etc

[lillywhite14]

Whyte is making the mistake of thinking it’s all about power and size. He’d do well to think about the fact Usyk will have forgotten more about knowing how to box than Whyte will ever know.

So many variables. As Toby points out, sometimes two fairly equally matched guys will see the smaller man prevail. Being smaller can sometimes be an advantage. I’ve always thought smaller guys would give Joshua more problems than the big chaps for example.

Usyk joining the ranks is great. Let’s see how he gets on against Takam and maybe another before we come to any final conclusion. He might laugh when he feels heavyweight power for the first time.
He ate shots from some very big punchers in the cruisers and smiled every time. Does Whyte hit harder than Breidis? The obvious answer is yes but is it the right answer? I’m not so sure. The heavyweights are a strange breed, look what happened when Byrd moved down to light heavy.

The beauty of Usyk is we WILL find out. He doesn’t piss about

[Oiky]

Usyk will box Whyte,and many others ears off at heavy

[lefthook82]

I don't know what Usyk will do but one thing I'd guess is that he would have beaten every single opponent that Whyte has beaten in his career without much discomfort.

Whyte should worry about himself doing well at heavyweight

[Grilling Machine]

wether or not he does it with the elite

There's a question over the definition of elite: the very best active boxers; or only those we'd consider elite in any era.

Usyk against HoF heavies? Nah, I think he loses to a bunch of those. But Fury's a defence-dominant fighter who hasn't faced skills of Usyk's level; AJ can be outboxed and outworked, so long as you're big enough to not get bullied by him and he doesn't connect; and Wilder's Wilder!

Fury might just be the hardest matchup for him, though, because as Lee says, he'd use the Cunningham approach of leaning and draining. He's also the least likely to walk onto a big shot, as he prefers not to trade. But if Usyk's crafty enough to avoid most of those attempts, well then.

I'd be surprised if Usyk didn't beat one of the big three, but more surprised if he beat them all.

[coneye]

There's a question over the definition of elite: the very best active boxers; or only those we'd consider elite in any era.

Usyk against HoF heavies? Nah, I think he loses to a bunch of those. But Fury's a defence-dominant fighter who hasn't faced skills of Usyk's level; AJ can be outboxed and outworked, so long as you're big enough to not get bullied by him and he doesn't connect; and Wilder's Wilder!

Fury might just be the hardest matchup for him, though, because as Lee says, he'd use the Cunningham approach of leaning and draining. He's also the least likely to walk onto a big shot, as he prefers not to trade. But if Usyk's crafty enough to avoid most of those attempts, well then.

I'd be surprised if Usyk didn't beat one of the big three, but more surprised if he beat them all.

For me i'd like to see him beat them all

[black panther]

Usyk is around the same size as Roberto Cammarelle, who many had beating Joshua in the Olympic Final.....

I think he can do well.

[Oiky]

im rooting for usyk heavily at the weight

[Onetimeonly]

He tore his bicep. We're going to have to wait a bit longer

[KiwiRider]

He tore his bicep. We're going to have to wait a bit longer

Shame.
For both guys, Takem trains hard.

[oogiebe]

Shame.
For both guys, Takem trains hard.

Takam will probably face Hunter.

[Wee Tommy]

It has been going on throughout boxing and it is one of the biggest misnomers in boxing, or too often repeated phrases which falls under scrutiny.

You can go back to the early boxing days - Bob Fitz v James J, Holyfield v Bowe in the 90s, Spinks beating Holmes in the 80s at heavyweight.

In fact, how about a thread to see how many people can list, examples of perceived equal, or at least both seen as elite level, where the smaller guy won eg Hagler v Leonard, Leonard v Duran etc

I’m sure Ambling Alp did this in boxers of the past. There were many examples.

[JimStone]

Biceps tear can be a career wrecker depending on the severity. Hope this is a minor tear otherwise I will be forced to review my assessment of his future prospects.