Comments Thread For: Daniel Dubois or Joseph Parker? Determining who Oleksandr Usyk should face next

[White-Bob]

Everyone knows 2boys is the true undisputed HW champion..usyk about passed out with one of the cleanest body shots you'll ever see

[Willow The Wisp]

Say what? Oleksandr came up from cruiserweight and you're complaining that he won fights by decision in the heavyweight division? You should be asking why the big guys living in the glow of media attention and rolling in cash and luxury soft touches, couldn't batter Oleksandr into the nearest hospital. Then you complain about once a year fights, which regularly occur in boxing and Oleksandr defied this to beat Tyson Fury twice in a year (May and December 2024).

Also, how do you know who Oleksandr is lining up? I don't know why he is still fighting, he deserves respect. I will respect him if he retires and respect him if he continues fighting. Perhaps he is fighting on to give money to the Ukrainian army or rebuild hospitals or schools or homes or care for cemeteries full of children in a devastated home land.

Absolutely. Now, to be clear; Oleksandr Usyk is a shoe-in Hall of famer, a truly great fighter and the best heavyweight on the planet. That's a lot.
Where my focus was, relates only to the volume of work performed in the Heavyweight division, and the suddenly popular proclamation that "Usyk is the G.O.A.T. at Heavyweight, except maybe for Ali".
Fans are like a sporting dog that spots a squirrel.

My post urges folks to just pump the brakes a little, even while acknowledging Usyk's obvious accomplishments.
A hard fought win over Chisora, Two wins over Joshua, a KO win over Dubois and two close nods over Fury. A fine, fine run, to be certain. But G.O.A.T? Not quite there.
Not quite yet.

DelBoy, in between the kind of unexpected wins we expect from a true perennial contender, has served as a stepping stone for the bulk of his career.
Joshua, was once thought of himself as a surefire G.O.A.T. candidate, before his significant shortcomings were revealed, and the value of those two close wins for Usyk have eroded some in lite of Josh's pattern of Titanic disasters. Dubois was pushed up young, and like Parker and Whyte, he's used his early setbacks for learning, and he continues to show improvement. Minus the belt blow controversy, however; it was an extraordinary W for Usyk.
Fury has clearly had a bite taken out of him by his wars with Deontay Wilder, as would have been the case with anyone; and seeing Fury edged in 2024 is likely something that would play out somewhat differently against the Fury of, say, 2018-2021. Wilder sent him down hard four times, one of them down a out. It's highly unlikely that Fury's body has forgotten all of that.

So it's no knock on Oleksandr Usyk. Just a right sizing of our perception.