Is this the best the heavies has been in years?

[PUO3]

I'm also real interested but I have doubts about him having enough power to deter the big heavies.

Power will be the biggest issue imo.

That guy isn't slick or skilled enough to stand in there with much bigger guys. Absorbing shots and waiting for guys to wear out is a different game when your opponents are suddenly 30 pounds heavier.

Hes much more skilled and slick then just about every fighter at HW. He can move.

Usyk is pretty small. He won a bronze medal at middleweight at the age of 19 at the 2006 European Amateur Boxing Championships.
Guys like Joshua and Tyson Fury will likely be at least 20 lbs heavier if they fight.

Everyone is small when you compare them to Fury. Usyk is 6’3” and walks around at 220. 78” reach. Thats not small.

If he can put on maybe 10 pounds hell be just fine.

 

[codfather]

Power will be the biggest issue imo.

Hes much more skilled and slick then just about every fighter at HW. He can move.

Everyone is small when you compare them to Fury. Usyk is 6’3” and walks around at 220. 78” reach. Thats not small.

If he can put on maybe 10 pounds hell be just fine.

Usyk is smaller than Haye and doesn't hit as hard either.
Watch Haye vs Wlad to see how Usyk vs Fury/Joshua would look. Size matters.

 

[PUO3]

Usyk is smaller than Haye and doesn't hit as hard either.
Watch Haye vs Wlad to see how Usyk vs Fury/Joshua would look. Size matters.

No smaller fighter has ever beaten a bigger one. Got it.

We realize that this group of HWs isnt exactly the most talented right?

If Usyk can carry the power he does have up hes a live dog.

 

[PUO3]

Correct me if Im wrong but didnt Usyk whoop some SHW ass in the ammies?

 

[codfather]

Correct me if Im wrong but didnt Usyk whoop some SHW ass in the ammies?

He comfortably won all his World Series fights - beating some elite SHW amateurs like Majidov and Joe Joyce.
Don't get me wrong, I think he'd be a good heavyweight. Just Chris Byrd-good, rather than Wlad-good.
The last lineal HW champion that wasn't a proper HW was Michael Moorer - over 23 years ago.

 

[PUO3]

He comfortably won all his World Series fights beating some good SHW amateurs like Majidov and Joe Joyce.
Don't get me wrong, I think he'd be a good heavyweight. Just Chris Byrd-good, rather than Wlad-good.
The last lineal HW champion that wasn't a proper HW was Michael Moorer - over 23 years ago.

Well, the HW division isnt exactly stacked.

He would box circles around most of them. Power is really the only question. The skills arent even close.

 

[Queen B]

What with all this Dillion Whyte hype? His best win was over an old Helenius who took that fight on a few days notice and wobbled Whyte before gassing.

Heres some HWs that TS didnt mention that would beat Whyte

Andy Ruiz
Bryant Jennings
Dominic Breazeale
Adam Kownacki
Hughie Fury

 

[codfather]

What with all this Dillion Whyte hype? His best win was over an old Helenius who took that fight on a few days notice and wobbled Whyte before gassing.

Heres some HWs that TS didnt mention that would beat Whyte

Andy Ruiz
Bryant Jennings
Dominic Breazeale
Adam Kownacki
Hughie Fury

Whyte has a better resume than all those guys at this point.

 

[JayE]

It's the most exciting the division has been since the early 00s. I am one to deride the Klitschko era to a point (I don't deride the Klitschkos as they had the ability to be elite in any era, but the rest of their era, generally speaking, was very poor), but if they weren't brothers, the era would be remembered much differently. This current era has more excitement precisely because the two top fighters are on a collision course.

I'm not sold that overall level of talent has gone up any (I rate both brothers as clearly ahead of Wilder, Joshua, or, if he even deserves to be mentioned at this point, Fury assuming all are in their prime), but the fact that the two best fighters are likely going to face each other in a huge fight changes the dynamic considerably.

 

[Jonny Ninja]

What with all this Dillion Whyte hype? His best win was over an old Helenius who took that fight on a few days notice and wobbled Whyte before gassing.

Heres some HWs that TS didnt mention that would beat Whyte

Andy Ruiz
Bryant Jennings
Dominic Breazeale
Adam Kownacki
Hughie Fury

Would they? breazealle would be a good fight though I’m pretty sure his team turned down a fight with whyte at late notice on the wilder vs stiverne card

 

[TeenageMutantLesnarTurtle]

The skill level and talent pool feels significantly below what it was pre-2000, but the entertainment value has increased a ton over the last couple of years and things are really quite exciting right now. It feels like a much more volatile and unpredictable division nowadays, in a good way.

 

[PUO3]

Absolutely!

 

[The Green-eyed Kenshiro]

Yeah it's been shit ever since Lennox retired. Toney had a nice run at HW sometime after that but got too fat and broke down

 

[DeJulez]

None of those were silver ages. Maybe 01-04 but certainly not 08-12

 

[PHATV]

I think it's OK right now. Not special or anything. I'm older, so maybe I'm turning into a grumpy old man, but I don't see the polished skill-set among the current top HWs that we've seen even in the past. They're big and can hit, but appear cumbersome and awkward on their feet at times to me. Like they would get sparked out by a HW that was really educated. That said, it's getting better.

 

[KillerIsBack V2]

EDIT: I forgot Tony Yoka as well. Olympic gold medallist (thought Joe Joyce was robbed personally)

Lets see how he bounces back from his year long ban for doping first.

 

[codfather]

Lets see how he bounces back from his year long ban for doping first.

Yoka will still only be 27 when he returns. I can't see it hindering his progress much.
I would fancy him to beat guys like Breazeale and Chisora right now.

 

[Seano]

No smaller fighter has ever beaten a bigger one. Got it.

We realize that this group of HWs isnt exactly the most talented right?

At HW, they generally don't. Even Holyfield had mixed results at heavy.

He'll beat Malik Scott and the like. Not Joshua or Wilder.

 

[burningspear]

I'd pinpoint two moments from the last 25 years where I consider heavyweight boxing was at it's healthiest from a sporting perspective (if not a commercial one).

1. Lennox Lewis knocking out Mike Tyson in 2002.
2. Wladimir Klitschko knocking out Samuel Peter in 2010.

Those two moments captured the two best heavyweights of the past 25 years at their absolute peak.

Eh?

 

[benebox]

I just want wilder / Joshua. Unfortunately this being boxing it will probably happen after one of them lose or gets old.