"I would have outboxed Usyk" - Former WBO Cruiserweight Champion believes that he would have come up on top in a bout against Oleksandr Usyk

Johnny Nelson (left) Oleksandr Usyk (right)
Johnny Nelson (left) Oleksandr Usyk (right)

Sky Sports pundit Johnny Nelson was asked about what would happen in a fantasy bout between him and Oleksandr Usyk. Nelson believes the former Undisputed Cruiserweight Champion and current WBA, IBF and WBO World Champion would be an easy night of work.

Nelson said:

“I'd have beat him, I would have outboxed him. It would have been pretty easy I would have outboxed him. I'll talk straight and say how it is, and I understand people will be like ’What are you talking about Nelson?’ If you know boxing, you know what you are talking about, you get carried away with the excitement that 1000 people say, more fool you. You have got to be smart, look at the fights, you got to look at what Usyk is doing.”

Johnny Nelson is the longest reigning WBO Cruiserweight Champion in history. Nelson famously lost his first 3 fights, and had 12 professional defeats before becoming a world champion. ‘The Entertainer’ ironically chose the nickname due to how difficult he was to knockout. Nelson was only stopped once in his career.

Nelson, spoke about what he believed to be Usyk's weakness and what he would target:

“Movement, anticipation and instinctive shots. I think the mistakes Anthony Joshua made was that he was trying to be sure of the shots before letting them go."

Watch the full interview here:

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Nelson believes that he has superior anticipation and movement to Usyk. Nelson also pointed to Usyk’s bout with Bellew and claimed that Usyk was behind before he knocked out Bellew. Thus, Nelson believes that Tony Bellew laid out a blue print to beating Usyk.

Watch Oleksandr Usyk beat Tony Bellew:

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Oleksandr Usyk is one of the most successful boxers of all time

When Oleksandr Usyk unified the cruiserweight division to become the undisputed champion, he became only the fourth man in history to do so in the four-belt era. In the World Boxing Super Series, Usyk defeated all of the champions at the weight to become the undisputed WBA, WBC, WBO and IBF World Cruiserweight Champion.

Watch Oleksandr Usyk beat Murat Gassiev in Russia to become the king at cruiserweight:

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After conquering cruiserweight, Usyk moved up to the heavyweight division. As a heavyweight, Usyk beat two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua to become the WBO, WBA and IBF World Heavyweight Champion.

In the biggest fights of his career against Joshua and Murat Gassiev, Usyk has travelled to the champions' home country and convincingly defeated them.

Edited by John Cunningham
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