Oleksandr Usyk suspects there is one fighter who, in a fantasy showdown, would have become the first and only man to defeat Floyd Mayweather in a professional ring.
Very few came close to trumping the all-time great and, even when they did, it was scarcely conceivable that they would emerge victorious on the judges’ scorecards.
Take Mayweather’s first encounter with Jose Luis Castillo, for instance, and many will argue that the elite technician should have lost his WBC super-lightweight title in 2002.
Similarly, the American was pushed tantalisingly close to defeat against Marcos Maidana, who ultimately lost a majority decision in their 2014 welterweight contest.
Mayweather also won their respective rematches but, even so, the two South Americans are widely credited for giving the Hall of Famer two of his toughest fights.
It could therefore be argued that there was a blueprint to defeat the 50-0 icon, given the stylistic similarities between Castillo and Maidana.
From a different perspective, though, Usyk has suggested that Terence Crawford would have completed the mission that so few were even capable of attempting.
Speaking with Daily Mail Boxing, the Ukrainian named ‘Bud’ as the man to not only defeat Mayweather but also the likes of Sugar Ray Leonard, Pernell Whitaker and Sugar Ray Robinson.
Like Mayweather, Crawford retired as an unbeaten five-division world champion, shortly after dethroning Canelo Alvarez for the undisputed super-middleweight crown last September.
But despite ending his career at 168lbs, Crawford was arguably most effective at welterweight, where he scored a ninth-round finish over Errol Spence Jr for the undisputed championship in 2023.
