Shannon Briggs has assessed what would happen if Oleksandr Usyk were to fight Evander Holyfield.
Usyk and Holyfield are in a select group of men who have been both undisputed cruiserweight champion and undisputed heavyweight champion.
Usyk completed the feat back in May 2024 when he first beat Tyson Fury, and after beating him again in their rematch, he most recently knocked out Daniel Dubois to become a two-time undisputed ruler, and the first man in the history of the four-belt era to achieve that.
Holyfield had many legendary nights in a golden era and beat the likes of Mike Tyson, George Foreman, Larry Holmes and Riddick Bowe, though drew and then lost to Lennox Lewis.
Speaking to First Round TV, former world heavyweight champion Briggs predicted that the Ukrainian would have too much for his American opponent.
“Usyk is just different, the fighters are different now. They’re throwing more punches now, the game has changed to where it’s more now about conditioning, and Holyfield is a machine. It used to more about skill now it’s all about conditioning.
You can be skilful for four, five, six, seven rounds, but if that guy got pressure on you and you can’t stop it, it’s like running your machine too fast. You’re gunna lose and you’re going to hell. And they’re still going up, like Usyk, he’s still going up. 12th round he’s still throwing punches like it’s the first round. Nobody else has been able to do that in the history of boxing.”
Usyk must now decide whether or not to fight on and defend his belts against Joseph Parker, or potentially take an unlikely MMA fight with Jake Paul in the octagon.
