[lukeyboy]

Looking forward to it. I really like Usyk, but Fury looks in good shape and I think his size will win out. I predict some punishing body shots from Fury and Usyk going down late on.

P.s. I'm no expert

[Wellsy]

Fury at his best is as good as Usyk and much bigger, I think he'll take it but Usyk can never be counted out.

[Nibile]

I'm still buzzing after Inoue and Lomachenko's fights. Exciting stuff.
For this I am extremely anxious: I like Fury, I loved how he showed Wilder's many flaws, and I like his style inside the ring. With all that said, my heart is with Usyk, not only because his is extremely skilled, but also because of how he behaves inside and outside the ring.
This surely will be his toughest fight, Fury is an excellent boxer and a lot heavier, with a one punch ko in his hands, so I don't know if Usyk's angles and relentlessness will do the job as with Joshua, who is a static puncher.
I am afraid that Fury's size will pay out in the end, but I have enormous faith in Usyk's capabilities and will.
I sincerely can't wait.
I only hope that referee and judges will be at the level that is required by this fight.

Edit: re melius perpensa, probably Fury hasn't one punch ko power, because he rarely - if ever - proved so, but surely he can deliver a ko combination of two/three punches. But then again, he floored Wilder with single punches... an overhand right and a left body shot in the second fight, and a right hook in the third fight...
I am confused now.

[Aussiegav]

Usyk.
Hard as nails, better mentally, a better boxer. He’ll work out Tyson Fury after 5 rounds.
Fury isn’t a knockout power monster which gives Usyk time to learn & adapt.

Fury hasn’t fought enough credible people. Especially in recent times.

Usyk is a better character of person and deserves the unified champion title.

[Wellsy]

I agree Usyk is the better man. And he's certainly mentally stronger, plus extremely tough. Fury is definitely able to beat him, and vice versa. Like Nibs I hope the refs and judges are up to the fight, which could be the best of a generation

[Moo]

Yeah styles make fights and I think these two are unquestionably the best boxers at heavyweight right now.

[mrjonathanr]

As people have said, Usyk commands more respect, by some margin. Fury can be crass, no question. Give some credit to Fury though; he gave away an entire £7m purse to homeless charities and has battled through severe depression to get back to this level.

I’d like Usyk to win, he’s a super boxer, but I think Fury is still very skilful and his size and reach will tell in the end.

[moose]

They are both relatively elusive, lack real KO power, and have good stamina / recovery ability - so I suspect it'll be an attritional fight that ends in a contentious points decision (and thus set-up the re-match).  I just hope it's action-packed rather than a tepid peek-and-poke festival.

[Aussiegav]

I hope Usyk convincingly bashes the shit out of Fury and stops him within 10 rounds. Want to get a good amount of boxing to watch. .

[spidermonkey09]

What a fight that was. Proper classic. The right decision for me, I thought Usyk had won by 2 but was very concerned Fury was going to get the nod once I saw it was a split. The knockdown won it for him. 

[Aussiegav]

Undisputed in two weight divisions, undefeated in both divisions.

Olympic gold medalist. Retired from amateur boxing with a record of 335−15.

He is the greatest boxer of all time.

[Nibile]

Mamma mia!!!
What a fight!!!
They both delivered, boxing at its finest. Turns out Usyk hits like a hammer.
So happy for him.

[Moo]

You can put him in the conversation for the greatest boxer of all time, I’m not sure you can categorically call that yet.

[moose]

You can put him in the conversation for the greatest boxer of all time, I’m not sure you can categorically call that yet.

I'm not sure he's the great at present, let alone all time.  I think Naoya Inoue has been undisputed in two weight classes and had multiple belts in two others.  I'm admittedly not hugely familiar with the level of competition in the lower weight classes, but he certainly passes the eye test - lots of savage KOs (e.g. Nery a few weeks ago).

[Moo]

Agreed hence my comment. I think you need to have a title reign as opposed to just capture the belts.

[Aussiegav]

I’m not disagreeing with you both.
I think it’s worth pointing out the weight & height difference between Usyk vs Fury is significantly greater than the two weight difference Inoue contested. Who is savage & highly skilled.

Wilder v Zhang next. Bush bash bosh.   

[Wellsy]

You can put him in the conversation for the greatest boxer of all time, I’m not sure you can categorically call that yet.

By the standards of the time I think Usyk is definitely a contender. I'm not sure about all time, but it's always hard to compare across eras. Like how the top legendary football teams from the 70s would be thrashed now. That said I'm not sure if it's the same in boxing. Usyk vs the titans of the 60s and 70s would be hugely interesting and of course, unknowable

[Moo]

Exactly the argument has to take into account the entire context of a fighters career.

[Dac]

A question for those of you with a better understanding of boxing than myself (which, frankly is most people).

In both this fight (Fury vs Usyk), and one of the Fury vs Wilder matches Tyson Fury narrowly lost on points despite being knocked down by his opponent and barely making the 10 count. Does the points scoring in boxing account for a knock down and referee count, if so how, and if not why not?

[Wellsy]

Points scoring in boxing works like this;

Three judges, each scores each round. Whoever wins the round gets 10, whoever loses gets 9. If a fighter is knocked down prompting a point, they lose a point (so could be 10-8 for example). They can score 10-8 without a knockdown if one fighter absolutely dominates, they can also score a 10-10 if there was nothing in it. If both fighters knock each other down the deduction cancels out

In reality judges are a bit of a law unto themselves and can be very controversial and at times just wrong. As Nibs said earlier in the thread, it is hoped for big fights that the judges will be up to it as they aren't always!

[Dac]

Thanks for that, I’d always assumed it was 1 point scored for each ‘good’ blow landed, I’d never noted how the points were nearly always 10 and 9!

It’s curious how so little is gained in points from a knockdown, seeing as in essence that’s practically the aim of the match. A fighter can knock down their opponent, and that opponent only be saved from a knockout by the referee intervening and giving a standing count; but loose 2 other rounds by the narrowest of margins and it’s all for nothing. (But then the scoring in the bouldering still confuses me).

[spidermonkey09]

The first Fury Wilder fight illustrates this quite well. Fury was knocked down twice but got up on both occasions. By most observers scorecards he comprehensively won the vast majority of the other 10 rounds, which should have meant he was the winner fairly comfortably. According to the judges, it was a split decision draw; one judge scored it a draw, one scored it by a few rounds to Fury, and the other scored it (somehow!) to Wilder by 4 rounds. Boxing is about much more than knocking the opponent over. Its about ringcraft, making your opponent miss, precise punching, meaningful punching rather than glancing blows off the gloves and shoulders. Its really complex to score and is very subjective which is why there is often controversy when judges scorecards are reviewed. Individuals preferences come into it a lot. Some judges like fighters who are on the front foot and reward what they see as positivity. Others value making the opponent miss and won't penalise a fighter who dances around more. Its very interesting but obviously a lot more straightforward  when someone gets knocked out!

[Nibile]

Yes, and that is also why, in my opinion, the GOAT debate is good for dinner chat (which is great), but impossible to really define someone on a true and solid factual base.
Cherry-picking, too much politics, corruption, and most of all the weight classes make everything too sketchy, and so also the W/L ratios are somehow pointless.
In any case, Usyk did something extraordinary, and - unless he does something silly to his career as Holyfield or Jones Jr. did to theirs, i.e. fighting for way too long - he will go down as one of the greatest ones. As Fury, obviously, but whose armour is less shiny than Usyk's one, for his too many antics out of the ring.
Anyway, there are quite a few very bright stars shining right now, so let's hope it goes on like this, with top fighters clashing.

[spidermonkey09]

10 beautiful minutes of boxers being made to miss here.

[tim palmer]

10 beautiful minutes of boxers being made to miss here.

It is a shame Floyd is a horror of a human being isn't it