An Epic Night of Fights!

[that Indian]

This boxing forum could easily be confused for a fight listing calendar. So anemic is the discussion.

But last night deserves discourse.

Usyk-Dubois​

We had Usyk demolishing Dubois, looking as good as he ever had. Dubois made some elementary boxing mistakes (overextending himself and walking into counters) but the genius of Usyk was his pacing. It was apparent from Rd 1 that he was going to drown Dubois and by Rd 4 Dubois looked absolutely spent. Usyk is such a mastermind. And who moves like that at heavyweight? And at 38 years old?? I think the key to Usyk's success is his mental fortitude. It is apparent when you look at him and hear him speak. He is just built differently. The only other people I've seen with something resembling that are Mayweather, Pacquiao and Crawford. Maybe Andre Ward. But honestly, Usyk is just on another level.

Fundora-Tsyzu​

This was a devastating performance from Fundora. So glad he is finally using his length to control distance. When he fights like this, he is absolutely going to be a nightmare for anyone at 154. I need to see how someone like Boots deals with that. I don't know where Tim Tsyzu goes from here. He is destined to have a short career. I hope he takes a good deal of time off and comes back for maybe 3-5 fun fights and then calls it a career. Something mentally broke in him last night and it was sad to watch. I think he realized in that moment, he was never going to be as great as his namesake. He made a decision that Victor Ortiz made against Maidana. That is not disgraceful, it's just mortal. And it's what separates him from his father and those in the boxing pantheon.

And it's OK that he's not his father, he is his own man. And that's damn well good enough. Boxing is better for having Tim in it.

Bam-Cafu​

Really love watching Bam fight. He is P4P top 5 in terms of skill. He wins the foot game over all his opponents. It's so uncanny, just like Loma they stop even trying to establish foot control after like 1-2 rounds. Bam was walking in and around him with impunity. However, that high guard, low stance and constant dipping will be troublesome when/if he moves up to face Nakatani. He would be a sucker for uppercuts, and Junto packs them. I thought Cafu gave a good account from himself. I would have liked to see Bam work the body a bit earlier.

MMA​

On the MMA side, we also had a tremendous night with Holloway-Poirier, the return of Borrachinha, AJ McKee, Dakota Ditcheva and an absolutely epic finish (top 10 ever in MMA) with Eblen and Van Steenis.

Overall, one of the best nights of fighting in a long time!

 

[baconCrunch]

dubois is so basic and overrated. usyk beating him that way was no surprise.
some ppl are in such awe, because of that win. dubois is not an elite fighter. he never was even close to being one.
too bad usyk has no one elite to fight with.

 

[baconCrunch]

bam-cafu

bam is so all-around.
i honestly thought he would brawl more with cafu. similar to the estrada fight.
but he showed great poise.

the problem i have with cafu is, all he has is that one punch counter. very one dimensional. that basic approach isn't gonna work on guys like bam.

junto is a completely different animal from cafu.
throws combinations, has power from every angle, can fight inside, can control distance with the jab. has a laser left.
and is also defensively sound.

 

[that Indian]

dubois is so basic and overrated. usyk beating him that way was no surprise.
some ppl are in such awe, because of that win. dubois is not an elite fighter. he never was even close to being one.
too bad usyk has no one elite to fight with.

No I don't think that people are in awe of Usyk because of that one win. It is because he keeps building on his entire corpus with devastating flourish. The man looked better than ever at 38 years old. He won undisputed 2x at heavyweight after a HOF career at cruiserweight. That alone is something to be in awe of. As they say, you're only as good as your last fight. Well look at what Dubois did against AJ. I think people were expecting a much closer fight.

In terms of elite fights, well that is the only thing people can say to peg down the greatness of Usyk. It's not his fault he didn't compete in the eras of Ali, Holyfield, Bowe, Tyson, Lewis or even the Klitschko's. He could well have lost--or he could have won them all. No one really knows. But at the time he fought them, I would say his wins over AJ and Fury were elite.

 

[baconCrunch]

i agree fury was elite, but it was also still a SD.
joshua was also a SD. and joshua has been so inconsistent, i doubt you could even consider him as elite. he’s never been the same after ruiz.

there’s no doubt usyk is a top 3 P4Per. but as impressive as the way he beat dubois was. lets be honest, dubois is no joe frazier. he’s certainly not elite.

i’m more impressed with bam’s skills.

 

[Kovalev's "Man Bag"]

i agree fury was elite, but it was also still a SD.
joshua was also a SD. and joshua has been so inconsistent, i doubt you could even consider him as elite. he’s never been the same after ruiz.

there’s no doubt usyk is a top 3 P4Per. but as impressive as the way he beat dubois was. lets be honest, dubois is no joe frazier. he’s certainly not elite.

i’m more impressed with bam’s skills.

Nobody that knows how to score boxing agrees with those SD results. Usyk was robbed of a finish in the first Fury fight. More importantly Usyk also beat them both unanimously (Joshua in the first fight, Fury in the second).

 

[Blastbeat]

It was good to see Usyk prove he has legit punching power at HW.
Fundora proved that his first victory over Tsyzu wasnt a fluke.
And it was bittersweet seeing The Diamond retire. Poirier has always been a favorite of mine. Great career, full of fun wars.

 

[that Indian]

i agree fury was elite, but it was also still a SD.
joshua was also a SD. and joshua has been so inconsistent, i doubt you could even consider him as elite. he’s never been the same after ruiz.

there’s no doubt usyk is a top 3 P4Per. but as impressive as the way he beat dubois was. lets be honest, dubois is no joe frazier. he’s certainly not elite.

i’m more impressed with bam’s skills.

I think you're underselling those wins but I do agree that Bam is elite. Skill-wise, and I've said it before, he is the second coming of Loma.