DAVID ISAACSON | The heavyweight division is alive and well if you Usyk me

A good big ’un will always beat a good little ’un, boxing tells us, though Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk is dishing up a different narrative, convincingly beating Anthony Joshua again and then calling out Tyson Fury.

Traditionally, the way this story is supposed to go is like when Billy Conn stepped up from light-heavyweight and gave then world heavyweight champion Joe Louis a boxing lesson of note, only to get over-confident and knocked out in the 13th round.

Middleweight champion Stanley Ketchel put his heavyweight counterpart Jack Johnson on the seat of his pants in the 12th round, but the bigger man got off the canvas, rushed across the ring and sent the challenger into slumberland with such a hard blow that some of Ketchel’s teeth were reportedly found in his glove.

In 1985 Michael Spinks, an accomplished light-heavyweight, upstaged Larry Holmes, ageing and unbeaten in 48 contests, to win the IBF version of the world heavyweight title.

But the ultimate game-changer was Evander Holyfield, who also stepped up from cruiserweight to win the heavyweight crown and dominate the division for a while.

That’s the road Usyk, another cruiserweight-turned-heavyweight, has followed, showing no signs of struggling in the new division, beating Chazz Witherspoon inside the distance and then scoring points wins over Derek Chisora and now twice over Joshua. He owns the WBA, IBF and WBO versions of the world heavyweight title. 

And now he wants Fury, holder of the WBC title that he has been threatening to relinquish through retirement.  

Against Joshua, Usyk gave away seven centimetres in height, 10cm in reach and almost 10.5kg in weight, but he’ll be at an even greater physical disadvantage against Fury, with the gap stretching to 15cm in height, 18cm in reach and, perhaps most importantly, the weight chasm widening to about 20kg.

Make no mistake, I don’t rate any of these guys in the same class as the golden era of the 1970s when Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Joe Frazier and Ken Norton waged their battles.

That’s a big ask. An optimist might make the comparison that Ukraine has done a fair job at withstanding the Russian invasion, but Usyk won’t be getting assistance from Nato during the bout. 

Look, I won’t write him off, but the problem is that Fury, for a big guy, is fairly well skilled. 

He uses the jab to good effect and is able to maintain his reach advantage while moving backwards. And if Usyk gets past his jab, Fury knows how to tie his opponents up on the inside. 

I don’t buy into Fury being a great knockout artist — he couldn’t put away Wladimir Klitschko, who was demolished by Corrie Sanders in 2003 — though getting hit solidly for several rounds in a row can take its toll. 

Usyk would have to fight the bout of his life to win this one, but given the styles of both men, this bout could also be more cerebral than brutal. 

AJ’s ring speech after the decision was announced on Saturday was somewhat bizarre, but he actually looked good at times and he gave me the impression that he is still a valuable property in the heavyweight division. 

I’d love to see Joshua take on Deontay Wilder and even Fury. He’s a worthy contender. 

A lot of boxing people would disagree with my view that Joshua has a chance against both of them. Sure, he could get sparked, but if he catches either of them, he can do damage too. 

And Fury and Wilder have been known to eat leather. 

Make no mistake, I don’t rate any of these guys in the same class as the golden era of the 1970s when Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Joe Frazier and Ken Norton waged their battles, nor even the less competitive 1980s where Larry Holmes and Mike Tyson ruled supreme at different times. 

But at the same time, the heavyweight division had been in a funk since the departure of Lennox Lewis in 2003, with the cumbersome Klitschko brothers unable to inject great interest. I’ve seen paint dry with more vim and vigour. 

Fury, Joshua, Wilder and Usyk have restored interest to the division. Even if Usyk versus Fury turns out to be lacklustre, it’ll still be intriguing. 

I do hope that Fury chooses to stick around a bit longer and that the top four actually get to fight each other before they ride off into the sunset.

Big or small, good or bad, they are all ’uns worth watching.