The_budweiser Posted November 13, 2018 Share Posted November 13, 2018 On Saturday evening, in Manchester, we saw unified cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk (18-0, 12 KO’s) overcome a slow start before turning up the tempo and destroying Tony Bellew in the eighth round of their matchup. With the win, the talented Usyk defended his WBC, WBA, IBF, and WBO cruiserweight titles in what looks like it will be the last fight of him in that division, before an expected move up to heavyweight. How much success can Oleksandr Usyk have as a Heavyweight? - - Boxing News - Ring News24 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoztheMadman Posted November 13, 2018 Share Posted November 13, 2018 Re: How much success can Oleksandr Usyk have as a Heavyweight? Depends on how much power he can retain or increase with the weight gain. Without the power he can still do well with his defense and skills, but it is gonna be tougher against the hardest hitting guys and the best ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cableaddict Posted November 13, 2018 Share Posted November 13, 2018 Re: How much success can Oleksandr Usyk have as a Heavyweight? I'm interested in 2 factors: 1: What will Usyk's comfortable ring weight be, once he doesn't have to make a limit. 2: Will he start changing his style a little, trading a little speed for more power? (CAN he even do this? ) Or does he hope to work his way up to a title shot on the back of countless UD's? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
selij Posted November 13, 2018 Share Posted November 13, 2018 Re: How much success can Oleksandr Usyk have as a Heavyweight? Neither - no strength - hes gonna get proper banged out vs AJ, Miller, Whyte, Povet, Ortiz, Parker. Poss beats Jennings, Pulev. Wont know how to fight Deyonce or Tyson. Will be same level as Breazeale and Martin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Undefeated Posted November 14, 2018 Share Posted November 14, 2018 Re: How much success can Oleksandr Usyk have as a Heavyweight? He might be able to capture the WBA regular title at some point but if Joshua and Wilder continue to hold down the main straps, Usyk won't be touching them and he'd get his head taken off if he tried. His win against Joyce was a good solid win but Joyce is shockingly slow and predictable. I like Usyk but I don't think he has the power to trouble the champs at heavyweight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cableaddict Posted November 14, 2018 Share Posted November 14, 2018 (edited) Re: How much success can Oleksandr Usyk have as a Heavyweight? His win against Joyce was a good solid win but Joyce is shockingly slow and predictable. . That's interesting. I never saw that fight, but I've been pretty impressed with Joyce in the few (recent) fights I've seen. He definitely has average hand speed, (and he throws like a girl) but he has very good leg speed, and terrific overall movement & balance. He also has great stamina, patience, and he goes to the body really well. He's with Abel Sanchez now, so hopefully they can fix that awful punch technique of his. Sort of off-topic, but do you think Joyce has drastically improved? (Have you seen his last few fights?) Edited November 14, 2018 by Cableaddict Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoztheMadman Posted November 14, 2018 Share Posted November 14, 2018 Re: How much success can Oleksandr Usyk have as a Heavyweight? Neither - no strength - hes gonna get proper banged out vs AJ, Miller, Whyte, Povet, Ortiz, Parker. Poss beats Jennings, Pulev. Wont know how to fight Deyonce or Tyson. Will be same level as Breazeale and Martin. Whyte?? No way! And Pov is too old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Undefeated Posted November 15, 2018 Share Posted November 15, 2018 Re: How much success can Oleksandr Usyk have as a Heavyweight? That's interesting. I never saw that fight, but I've been pretty impressed with Joyce in the few (recent) fights I've seen. He definitely has average hand speed, (and he throws like a girl) but he has very good leg speed, and terrific overall movement & balance. He also has great stamina, patience, and he goes to the body really well. He's with Abel Sanchez now, so hopefully they can fix that awful punch technique of his. Sort of off-topic, but do you think Joyce has drastically improved? (Have you seen his last few fights?) Yes I've seen all of his pro fights and I can't say I've seen any improvement, he made his debut when he was 30 (or thereabouts) and with signifcant amatuer experience under his belt. I'm not expecting to see much (if any) improvement at his age but when he fights someone decent this might show us something new (btw I'm not knocking his opponent level at this point since he is still a novice in the pro game). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robprosser Posted November 16, 2018 Share Posted November 16, 2018 Re: How much success can Oleksandr Usyk have as a Heavyweight? Usyk-Joyce is interesting because it exposes all Joyce's weaknesses (slow feet, poor defense, lack of a boxing brain). Even so I think over 12 rounds there may be a very different result. Usyk gets less mobile as the fight nears the end of the 4 rounds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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