{"id":748400,"date":"2026-08-24T17:38:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T17:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/748400\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T17:38:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T17:38:09","slug":"longest-reigning-cruiserweight-champion-ever-says-one-american-heavyweight-wouldve-beaten-usyk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/748400\/","title":{"rendered":"Longest reigning cruiserweight champion ever says one American heavyweight would’ve beaten Usyk"},"content":{"rendered":"

The longest-reigning cruiserweight champion of all time has backed one of the most formidable heavyweight punchers in history to defeat Oleksandr Usyk<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While having maintained an unblemished record throughout his 25-fight career, there is no guarantee that Usyk would have achieved the same success in previous eras.<\/p>\n

Against the likes of Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson, for instance, the Ukrainian may not have been able to utilise his technical attributes as effectively.<\/p>\n

This generation, meanwhile, has seen him become a two-time undisputed heavyweight champion, having scored two respective wins over Tyson Fury<\/a>, Anthony Joshua<\/a> and Daniel Dubois<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fury, in particular, was backed by many to defeat Usyk, who ultimately secured a ninth-round knockdown and won their first encounter by split decision<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But while the former cruiserweight king possesses a supreme skillset, he has never faced a puncher quite like George Foreman, who consistently displayed his power against tougher opposition than both Joshua and Dubois, for example.<\/p>\n

This is evidenced by his second-round stoppages of Joe Frazier and Ken Norton, which arrived before he lost to Muhammad Ali<\/a> in 1974.<\/p>\n

As a result, former WBO cruiserweight champion Johnny Nelson, who held the belt for over seven years, has told Daily Mail Boxing<\/a> that, while it would be an interesting clash, he cannot see how Usyk beats a prime \u2018Big George\u2019.<\/p>\n

It also speaks to the American\u2019s mindset that, following a 10-year hiatus, he managed to return to action and eventually became the oldest world heavyweight champion in history.<\/p>\n

He did so by dethroning Michael Moorer with a 10th-round finish for the IBF strap in 1994, despite having lost previous attempts against Evander Holyfield and Tommy Morrison.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The longest-reigning cruiserweight champion of all time has backed one of the most formidable heavyweight punchers in history…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":748401,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-748400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=748400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748400\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/748401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=748400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=748400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=748400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}