HiredGun123
Well-known member
Just one more thing to note. Chisora is said to be very durable and he fought 23 rounds with Dillian Whyte. Usyk had him in serious trouble off a single shot in round 7 in their bout, but Usyk seemed to step off the gas and let him recover. It is now been said that Usyk didn't want to reveal what he had because it would scare opponents off. This makes total sense. Matchroom were never that keen on the fight and if Usyk had stopped Chisora, there must be a good chance that he wouldn't have got the Joshua fight.
I don’t believe Usyk eased up. He’s a guy with nearly 400 amateur fights all over the world
There’s no way on earth he or his team would purposely let a fight run close on an away show against a home fighter and trust the judges.
He just had a tough physical fight with Chisora, that’s the top and bottom of it. Styles make fights.
Usyk could arguably have a loss on his record to Briedis, that really could’ve gone either way with no complaints, most had it a draw. So it’s not like he’s some unbeatable fighter that can play games in world level fights incase they give too much away. He’s far too clever to take that risk.
If he did ease up on Chisora, it’s likely because his team are very strict about getting reckless and losing shape chasing the knockout, that’s how you make mistakes. The Ukrainian style of teaching of often about no mistakes, keeping your shape.
If you think of Ukrainian fighters over the years, Usyk, Lomachenko, Klitschko’s, Postol etc. You never see them swinging chasing the knockout. They only take it when it truly presents itself. It’s how they’re taught.