Has Oleksandr Usyk earned the distinction of being called an all-time heavyweight great? After now having beaten the much bigger and heavier Tyson Fury twice, and with Usyk also holding big wins over Anthony Joshua (X2), and Daniel Dubois, and with Usyk having ruled as unified heavyweight king after having moved up from cruiserweight, he must indeed go down as an all-time great heavyweight. So says commentator Adam Smith.
Smith called last night’s fantastic rematch between Usyk and Fury, and he later spoke with DAZN News. Smith says Usyk, now 23-0(14) could have competed “in any era.”
“You have to put him up there,” Smith said with regards to Usyk joining the greatest ever big men of the sport. “He had already secured his place as the best pound-for-pound fighter of his generation by winning the first fight. By winning this [second] fight, he has cemented his legacy forever in this generation, but now he has got to be seen as one of the greatest heavyweights of all-time.
“It’s always difficult to look and compare against different eras. We love to debate and play that game of ‘would a young Mike Tyson beat a young Usyk?’ But you have to think Usyk would be able to handle himself in any era, against all of the greats. He has beaten Fury and AJ twice, beaten Dubois. He has beaten all the cruiserweights. You have to say he is one of the best of all-time.”
Agreed here, on all counts. Indeed it is tough to deny Usyk his place amongst the best of all-time. After a mere seven fights, Usyk has pretty much ran out of meaningful fights at heavyweight. Yes, some will say that Dubois rematch has to be fought – that whole “Dubois legitimately KO’d Usyk with a body shot last summer” argument refusing to go away in the minds of some people – but that aside, what else is there for Usyk to do?
Usyk has as we know spoken of dropping back down to the far more natural and comfortable for him cruiserweight division. Maybe this is what will happen next, maybe Usyk has done all he needs to do to have stamped his awesome credentials on the heavyweight history pages.
Also, Smith is right when he says we fans love to play the debate game. To this end, just imagine Usyk and his magnificent skills going in there with heavyweight kings such as Muhammad Ali, Larry Holmes, Lennox Lewis, Joe Louis, and others!
We must all enjoy and appreciate Usyk, a simply superb fighter and a great champion both in and outside of the ring, while we can.
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