‘Unbelievable’: Hearn says Usyk established himself as an all-time great heavyweight

Oleksandr Usyk could contend with fighters from any era, says Eddie Hearn.

Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn talks to boxing media about this past weekend’s action and why Oleksandr Usyk’s latest performance really established him as an all-time legend in Hearn’s mind. Here’s some excerpts of what Hearn had to say on that topic and more.

Hearn on Pacquiao vs Barrios

“I just don’t rate Barrios....Boots was the welterweight king, imagine what Boots would do to Mario Barrios. You just saw Barrios really squeeze out a decision on the Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson card against someone very average, with all due respect. So he should be really dominating Pacquiao but I don’t think he’s an elite welterweight...You should really be walking Pacquiao down and beating him up, look at the size of Barrios.”

On Usyk’s knockout of Dubois

“Usyk’s just phenomenal. I mean, what a fighter. If you watch that fight, Usyk was under pressure in the first round because Dubois comes out fast like he did against AJ and if he catches you, you’re in trouble. And I think just after that he just decided basically ‘I’m not going to go on the back foot anymore, I’m going to take the fight to Dubois’ and he just kind of beat him up and obviously stopped.

“I mean, he’s beaten AJ twice, Fury twice, Dubois twice. Unbelievable.”

On where he thinks Usyk fits in as an all-timer

“I feel like legacy is really only established over time but now you have to start talking about him as one of the greats, like heavyweight greats. Like I feel like there’s very few fighters that would be able to compete over multiple generations against fighters like Mike Tyson, Ali — what a fight that would be. I mean, two just genius fighters.

“You’d fancy him, probably, to beat Mike Tyson, Larry Holmes. You’re talking about great heavyweights. Joe Frazier, Sunny [Liston] — like, you’d back him to beat those [guys] and the remarkable thing is he’s not that big. Really he’s like a 200 lb guy that’s kind of beefed up to hang with those bigger guy. And what he’s doing is taking the fight to bigger guys. That’s what he’s done with Dubois...”