Bradley Pushes Back On Oleksandr Usyk Being An All-Time Great
Hall of Fame Inductee Timothy Bradley doesn’t feel unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk (23-0, 14KO) is an all-great. In addition, he believes fans are giving Usyk far too much credit.
After defeating two-time champion Tyson Fury twice, Usyk established himself as the best fighter of this era. Boxing fans and pundits have been debating whether he is an all-time great. It is one of the hottest topics in boxing, and depending on who you ask, the Ukrainian belongs on the list.
HE DOESN’T BELIEVE THE CHAMPION IS WORTHY
Bradley took to his platform, Timothy Bradley Jr, with disbelief at what was being said about the topic. He wasted no time explaining why Usyk shouldn’t be considered an all-time great.
“I’m not even going to talk about the fight right now. But all this all-time great shit that’s going on, all-time great, are you kidding me … Just because he beat the two best heavyweights of this era does not make him an all-time great.”
“He is not an all-time great. Y’all need to stop with that…He fought five guys in the heavyweight division. I can understand he got accolades. He cleaned out the division at cruiserweight. I get that.
“He comes to heavyweight, I wouldn’t say clean out, but he beat the two best guys in the division, and now y’all saying he’s an all-time great. He only got 22 fights. Y’all need to stop it. Y’all tripping.”
CONTEXT IS KEY
The problem with everything the Hall of Fame Inductee said is it lacks serious context. Usyk didn’t start his career until 2013, and he’s become a two-division undisputed champion in eleven years. That alone is a remarkable accomplishment.
In addition, he beat Anthony Joshua twice, Daniel Dubois, and Fury while being the much smaller man with a significant height and reach disadvantage. Bradley’s dismissive tone at what Usyk did at cruiserweight is alarming, considering the quality of opponents the Ukranian beat to win the World Boxing Super Series tournament.
The irony is Fury believed that defeating Usyk should put him on the all-time great list, and this author doesn’t remember him receiving this much pushback.
Whether you agree or disagree with Bradley, history will decide Uysk’s place as an all-time great. However, the unified champions overall body of work makes a compelling argument in his favor
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