Oleksandr Usyk continually gets called “small” for the heavyweight division despite being the same size as ‘Big’ George Foreman during his first run.
The Ukrainian recently traveled to London and picked up his WBN Fighter of the Year Award for 2022. He is now a fully-fledged top-division campaigner.
His fantastic run at cruiserweight ended in 2018, a full four and some years ago. Since then, he’s piled on twenty pounds to make himself a force at 200 pounds plus.
Next up, Usyk is set to put his WBA, WBO, and IBF heavyweight titles on the line against WBC champion Tyson Fury. The fight will take place in the Middle East next spring.
George Foreman
Despite many doubting Usyk’s abilities to make a dent in the six-foot nine-inch Fury, as he did with Brit rival Anthony Joshua, the 35-year-old is compatible with Foreman.
When the American Foreman returned from the Olympics with a gold medal, he embarked on an astonishing heavyweight run.
Back then, between 1969 and 1974, Foreman scaled between 215 and 225 pounds, similar to Usyk today. However, Foreman was constantly talked about as a wrecking machine in the ring and eventually took the name ‘Big’ George Foreman.
Times have changed in this millennium with the emergence of the super-heavyweight. But Usyk is big enough to make his mark, as he’s already shown.
Fury, when speaking to talkSPORT this week, touched on that very fact despite previously calling Usyk a middleweight constantly.
“Usyk’s about six-foot-three and sixteen stone. He’s bigger than Muhammad Ali was back in the day,” said Fury.
“He’s probably the same size as George Foreman. Everybody used to say ‘big’ George Foreman. Now they’re [also you were] saying ‘little tiny’ Usyk at the same weight and size.”
Oleksandr Usyk vs Tyson Fury
Not to mention that Usyk is bigger than Mike Tyson and Muhammad Ali, meaning “Mr. I am Very Feel” has every chance in the fight.
“He’s beat a big guy before, AJ, who is six-foot-six. I’m not that much taller than him,” pointed out “The Gypsy King.”
“I’ve been searching the world. I’ve traveled all over to find a challenger who can beat me. I can’t find one in fourteen years.
“He’s [Usyk] a pretty big boy. He’s a lot bigger than Muhammad Ali was back in the day.
“And he’s bigger than Evander Holyfield. He’s bigger than Mike Tyson, and he’s bigger than Joe Frazier and Ken Norton,” he concluded.
Usyk’s team has called on Fury to stop talking about the former undisputed titleholder’s size as they finalize the deal.
Fury was quoted as saying, “It’s not the size of the man. It’s the size of the fight in the man!”
The manager of Usyk, Egis Klimas, responded: “One hundred percent correct. So don’t say Usyk is too small!”
After Fury’s easy win over Derek Chisora and subsequent head-to-head with Usyk, Klimas added that the WBC ruler is not the division’s king until he beats the Pound for Pound king.
As the great Mills Lane would say, “Let’s Get It On!”
