I was kinda hoping he’d just hop on Alchemist and DJ Premiere style beats. Go East Coast Em and boast about how he’s a legend.

What it is is that Usyk is much smaller than most of his opponents. Although this may make it seem like he should stick to out boxing his larger opposition as a "hit and not get hit by the bigger man" strategy, in amateur boxing fundamentals you're actually taught the opposite. The smaller guy with a disadvantage in height and reach is actually far safer in the pocket rather than long range or mid range. Staying on the outside against a person with a reach advantage just means you're going to get picked apart if both men are of equal skill. On the inside the smaller man has the advantage of being in a better range for his reach whereas the guy with longer reach is essentially stuffing his punches. That's why generally if you're facing a bigger opponent you're told to pressure and get to the inside because you're safer there and that's where your disadvantages become advantages. Beginners are taught to ignore the fear of the feeling of danger when entering the inside range (as is normal, most people are afraid of this range) to gain an advantage as shorter limbed fighter because regardless of what your adrenaline system tells you, you're safer in there. This also means that you may take hits trying to go to the inside or even on the inside when things get rough, but you're going to get hit less and less cleanly than mid range or long range and your opponent will take a more ferocious beating than you if things play out correctly. It feels counter intuitive but it's boxing fundamentals 101. Usyk used to fight more long range and mid range when he was a CW but as he went up in weight he essentially had to nullify a lot of the physical disadvantages he had by going into inside range, which is where he had an advantage over heavyweights. It's a tactics shift adapted for the move up in weight. Circling around and jabbing all night against a 6'8 giant with long reach just isn't going to cut it. That's why in the lead up to the Fury fight Usyk told Fury "I won't leave you alone [during the fight]". He meant he was going to pressure and force Fury to box off his back foot so he can't just go on the front foot and go forward and bulldoze the smaller man (Fury on the front foot pushing Usyk backwards essentially forces Usyk into mid and long range). He tried to fight on the inside where his shorter arms and speed advantage will help him. That's also why Fury's strategy was probably the uppercut. He knew Usyk was going to pressure into close range and the only punch that's most likely not going to be stuffed at that range was going to be an uppercut, also a common move used in conjunction with step back counters. The analogy I'd use is a boxer vs kickboxer. Most boxers that don't know much about K1 do horribly in crossover fights because they fight in the wrong range. They get leg kicked then their intuition tells them to take a step back and box from long range to avoid kicks. However, this actually puts you right in kicking range because the longer the range the more advantageous kicks are going to be vs punches. (See Ray Mercer in K1 where he got kicked, backed up and tried to fight in long range, then just got kicked all day whereas he can no longer land a punch). The actual strategy should be to pressure forward and get into the inside immediately and try and fight from there. Kicks are stuffed and it becomes a fight in the range a boxer is going to be more advantageous in, punching range. (See an overweight Chi In-Jin in K1 where, with little prep, he fought a KB champion and just went in there and brawled at close range, taking away kicks and making it a battle at fist range... and won).

TL;DR: Usyk used to fight more mid range and long range because at CW his opponents didn't have a height or reach advantage and he was the far superior technical boxer. When he moved up to HW everyone was way taller and had a bigger reach than him, although he is more technical it's too dangerous to stay at those ranges and risk getting hit. Instead now he fights on the inside to take advantage of his shorter limbs and speed advantage. The shorter limbed fighter's range is going to be closer on the inside and it also forces the longer limbed man to have his punches stuffed. He takes hits getting to the inside and fighting on the inside, but he's far safer in there.

Thought it could have gone either way. It was a weird, awkward fight. Not the most entertaining so not mad at anyone winning/losing. Was hoping to see Navarette vs Loma though (anyone but boring ass Shakur please).

Rounds 1, 2, 3, 8, 9 (10-8), 10, 11 - Usyk.

Rounds 4, 5, 6, 7, 12 - Fury.

116-113 Usyk.

I ended up doing arch rock scrambling, hidden valley hike, and Ryan mtn to see the sunset! All lovely hikes!

He should be number one p4p right now. His lost to Bivol should not have affected his rankings that much. That was his 4th division and fighting someone in their prime. Canelo still p4p better than Bivol. Also, Bivol should not be p4p after beating Canelo. He doesn’t have enough title defenses in his weight class and Canelo came from the weight class lower.

I got Pereira, Xaionan (random pick, just want new blood), Gaethje (voting for Holloway though), Oliviera, Nickal, Rakic, Kattar, Holm (by KO), Yusuff (don’t know either guy so random pick because I hate the other guy’s hair), Moicano, Andrade, Green, Garbrandt (could see him getting KO’d by a strong gust of wind though). Stacked ass card, let’s gooooo!

Hipster ass picks. What a shit list and complete disrespect to Canelo. He lost to the champ at 175, a weight class higher than his. And now he’s not on the p4p list? Rubbish. Also how is Bivol on the list? How is he above Beterbiev? He has less title defenses than Beterbiev, he decisions his mutuals with Beterbiev whereas Beterbiev has maintained a legendary 100% KO rate, and his best win is Canelo, a guy a weight class below him. Man, boxing is all hype. Teraji is on the list but Estrada isn’t? Okay…

96-95 Valle. I feel like the commentary was kind of biased, kind of ignored a lot of shots Valle landed and applauded all the shots Estrada landed. Close fight!

I agree. Best thing I ever did was start training boxing so now I’m more tuned into boxing. Imo boxing is heating up and has been providing better fights than mma.

Knew that was gonna happen, just thought AJ would save it for the later rounds. Well, he did what everyone thought Fury was gonna do. Went in there and punched Ngannou in the face.

Me too, Maidana ended up with a broken jaw lol.

Maidana got his jaw broken in that fight though. People like to pretend that fight was extremely one sided when it wasn’t.

Tbf he was a legit 4 division champion and only really lost to the best of the best when he was moving up in weight. No shame in losing a tough contest to Maidana where Broner broke Maidana’s jaw. No shame in getting outboxed by Mikey Garcia (who in my opinion is the true talent that was never fulfilled, could have been a generational great if he stayed at lightweight instead of moving up for money fights).

Joshua plays it safe and outboxes Ngannou until the 8th or so round, when Ngannou gets tired and desperate and presents his chin. Joshua rocks him but doesn’t put him out, though he emphatically wins and puts to rest the Ngannou hype train.

Cocaine is a hell of a drug.

I also go to a gym that has produced champions (it’s a boxing gym though) and have competed in multiple combat sports. If I hard spar someone much better than me at my gym they don’t try and knock me out. They “work” with me. They gain nothing from going all out on me and I gain nothing from them beating my ass. The safest hard spars you can do are against the more experienced guys that have the technical ability to beat you while at the same time working on what they are trying to improve without breaking your jaw. Sparring with a novice competitor is more dangerous. Same applies with disciplines like bjj. A black belt most likely won’t spazz out and snap your arm during an armbar, he’s too technical and experienced for that. Everyone knows injuries come from rolling with blue belts who don’t give af.

Not respecting the towel throw 3-4 times is criminal. At any respectable boxing gym you’d get kicked out for things like that. More likely you’d get jumped. That’s like not respecting the tap multiple times in bjj. I think Strickland was a little sensitive about not KO’ing a streamer so he ignored the towel throws to try and get the finish. I get people hate streamers but Strickland ain’t the hero every UFC fans think he is. The answer to one radical isn’t another. Bad look for Strickland. At least put the guy out if you’re gonna ignore the towel throws to be a dickhead.

I’ve contemplated that but waiting to get more fights in before starting it so I can have more experience and insight to provide better breakdowns! Possibly!

Hopkins and Andre Ward are masters of the game. They are super complete and that includes a good inside fighting game. I haven’t watched too much Ricky Hatton but I don’t think I’d put him in the same category as those other two. The modern boxer has traded the old school inside fighting game with cleaner mid and long range game. I, too, love this style of boxing!

Clinching works the same in most sports. If you read above I said boxing inside fighting is a uniquely boxing specific grappling. However, they all follow the same fundemental rules. Double overhooks don’t even allow you to get good head position. Watch Henry Armstrong to see what I’m referring to. Giving up two underhooks so you can secure two overhooks is generally not a good move, you’re giving the opponent most of the control, if not all. The only reason you would do this in boxing is to stall for a ref break when you’re getting pressured ie a body lock (the Mayweather/ward tactic). Even if Fury clinches with a smaller opponent, if said opponent knows how to pummel for over hooks and under hooks they are controlling the clinch regardless of size (they are both heavyweights). You can’t lean against an opponent with double under hooks because he would just use the underhook to turn you into the ropes. A big part of the older era inside fighting was the ability to use overhooks, underhooks, elbow pins, and head positioning to turn and position an opponent where you want or bypass his arms for short inside punches. Modern era clinch work is literally just body locks and leaning against an opponent now, and they only get away with it because the opponent is even less knowledgeable. Try that with guys like Joe Frazier!

His clinch being limited to overhooks was his clinch downfall (I don’t really use these breakdowns btw I just go off knowledge since I competed in multiple combat sports, but this is convenient just to show you what I mean): https://youtu.be/XRokicU7iAw?si=zsPMuWjEfjHoqdeo

Some samples of classic inside fighting for positioning:

Famed American coach Kenny Weldon teaching some basic techniques to position an opponent: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CxUen5Hr-9N/?igsh=ZDE1MWVjZGVmZQ==

Famed modern American coach Tommy Yankello teaching more elbow pinning and positioning techniques: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2G38V5uIXY/?igsh=ZDE1MWVjZGVmZQ==

Papachenko teaching Loma and team pummeling for underhooks and overhooks, among other things: https://youtu.be/tTjj-rRS-co?si=JsN3gpPxTJ0DE0BK

Roberto Duran teaching hand fighting for inside hand positions https://youtube.com/shorts/pS5Hky6hrV4?si=vJ4E4eGjE9izPRtU

GGG and others detailing getting hands to the inside and getting correct head position vs overhooks: https://youtu.be/CRVKn2_KAu8?si=70otrjT9J1hC02VW

I’m telling you right now, whatever Fury is doing is very, very mediocre. He’s a fantastic boxer though. If you notice, Ngannou’s clinch game was in line with the fundamentals taught by the coaches above, he fought for inside control most of the clinch exchanges, Fury’s… not so much… Fury still won though!

You absolutely would be at a disadvantage with two over hooks on a bigger stronger opponent unless your strategy is to body lock and wait for a ref break to stop an assault. Under hooks and over hooks are used to control an opponent. Ie if I have an underhook on the right side I can circle him to left by pushing my underhook and circling or to the the right by pulling on the shoulder via under hook. You can also do this for an overhook. This is for positioning. Another method is to use under hooks and over hooks to control an opponent to punch with the free hand. Duran used to throw an overhand right and immediately swim into an underhook for control and transition into window fighting. There’s 1000 reasons why you would pummel. I’m fortunate to have wrestled in high school with some good coaches (including greco Roman champions) and have a boxing coach who boxed since the 50s. My gym actually teaches these things, which is fantastic for me. Here’s a good video on only one aspect of it: https://youtu.be/Ql6SNwGKseE?si=LqTrvqkYg7beDAvp

Old school inside fighting had a lot of elbow control, pummeling for underhooks and overhooks, as well as positions where you lean in or actually put weight on the back foot (such as a chest to chest philly shell). Look up Tommy Yankello's videos for details on this. You can see just how much more advanced boxing clinch work is outside of just leaning on an opponent if you go as far back as Jack Dempsey in his book "Championship Fighting".

Julian Williams was a pretty good smothering type of inside fighter, he was a unified champ at 154lbs. There’s also Brandon Figueroa who was champ at 122lbs and just beat Mark Magsayo for a 126lb strap. Of course, Lomachenko can do all and his clinch work is exceptional. He also has had a brief background as a competitive judoka and freestyle wrestler. If you want to see the very beginnings of boxing clinch work you can go all the way back and watch Jack Johnson, the first colored champion. Of course I think The God of throwback clinch fighting was Henry Armstrong. Roberto Duran was the peak imo. One of my favorite hidden gem inside fighters is Korean dynamo Jung Koo Chang (who had the then-record of 16 title defenses). But basically most good boxers from 1930-1980s had better inside fighting game imo then modern boxers.