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Does boxing need a longer memory amid Oleksandr Usyk recency bias?
There was a post on X last week - the author's name withheld here to protect the foolish - which asked: If Oleksandr Usyk retired right now, would he be a hall of famer?
This little gem of a quote had everything to do with the star struggling more than many expected him to do in his world title defence against Rico Verhoeven down in Egypt.
The Dutchman, in just his second fight, was stopped one second - or perhaps less - before the end of the penultimate round of a thrilling title bout at the Giza necropolis.
The circumstances surrounding the decision by referee Mark Lyson to call it against the unified heavyweight champion have certainly set tongues wagging in the interim.
Is Kabayel next for Usyk after Rico win?
Relive Glory in Giza here
It also pushed thoughts to the subject of recency bias - a psychological phenomenon where people place disproportionate weight on recent events, data or experiences.
In turn, that feeds sport's peculiar modern superstition - the conviction that the last thing seen is the truest thing known, undervaluing or forgetting older long-term information.
Plenty of boxers have fallen victim to this. Because Usyk didn't look great against Verhoeven for long portions, some will argue he must be on the slide, or was never all that.
Lennox Lewis is another. Based on his overall body of work and natural gifts, there's an argument he should be in the conversation for a top-five all-time heavyweight in history.
Yet many are dismissive of his outrageous skill set and status as a modern great due to the fact that he struggled in what proved to be his final fight against Vitali Klitschko.
'The age of the instant verdict'
The Briton took it on less than two weeks' notice, and struggled early on, but nabbed a TKO win after doctors waved it off after six rounds due to an ugly gash over his rival's eye.
But due to the fact Klitschko was leading 58-56 on all three scorecards - and that Lewis would not entertain a rematch - plenty are unwilling to acknowledge him as a great.
Never mine the fact he beat Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, David Tua, Donovan 'Razor' Ruddock and Frank Bruno, and that he avenged both of his professional defeats too.
In real terms, Lewis beat every fighter he ever faced as a pro. Yet, incredibly, many cannot see past the Klitschko encounter, his last of a 44-bout career that spanned 14 years.
We now live in the age of the instant verdict. In football, two defeats for Manchester City becomes a crisis. In boxing, a narrow win over a kickboxer spells trouble for Usyk.
Because he struggled, some people choose to focus on that - not the fact he is an Olympic champion, and three-time undisputed kingpin at cruiserweight and heavyweight.
The truth is that a single positive or negative event does not guarantee a broader, lasting trend. Old press boxes always knew form was a drifting mist, not a monument in stone.
Happily, for seasoned champions like Usyk, they are possessed with a curious serenity and the ability to accept public affection can swing like a saloon door in the wind.
CompuBox, those in the media and plenty at home were all too delighted to count the jabs and right hands Usyk ate at the Pyramids with the forensic relish of a giddy coroner.
The digital age, where we live, means that television and streamers can slow down his failures on the night until they effectively resembled evidence in a criminal trial.
Whether Usyk came in undercooked or overconfident, it's clear that he wasn't at it during the early rounds, his nuanced footwork and lateral movement notably absent.
So too were the subtle feints and crisp counterpunching. But at the same time, this was no walkover either. Most of the rounds before the Great Sphinx were close.
When a fighter who is as hefty an underdog as Verhoeven was suddenly surpasses conventional expectations, it can affect the logic of what the viewer is actually seeing.
'Another title fight out of the fire'
The Dutchman exceeded expectations, and naturally after its sudden conclusion, wanted a rematch, with the star quoted by BBC Sport: "I feel like I'm the uncrowned king."
That last quite feels like hyperbole. While Verhoeven fared much better than expected, the fight was surely only going one way when Lyson waved it off in the closing stages.
Usyk has been catching strays ever since that decision. But you've got to give the Ukrainian his flowers for pulling another title fight out of the fire late on when it mattered.
He did it against Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury, in admittedly less dramatic fashion. He’s a thoroughbred fighter, who keeps finding and finding when the chips are down.
Everybody has a bad day at work, but Usyk still got the job done. The stoppage was controversial, but that's not on him. The punch that dropped Verhoeven was sublime.
Even the greats have their off-bouts, their bad nights. Maybe Usyk had some niggles in a camp. Thirty-nine now, he isn't going to be getting any younger as he carries on.
In an ideal world, Rico should have been saved by the bell, allowed his rest, and sent out for a final round to see if he could pull off one of boxing's biggest-ever upsets.
Mark Robinson / Matchroom Boxing
But this was a kickboxer whose reputation was forged over five rounds, dropped long past that point. It's very likely that he was done for the night when the referee jumped in.
The frustration is that we will never know if he had anything left to give, just as we won't know if this was a fistic aberration or the beginning of the end for Usyk and his legend.
Only the star's inner circle will know for sure. His team will be the only ones who can say whether he didn't look great in sparring, whether his run times in camp were slower.
Ultimately, the rest will only know when all is said and done. Sport is an old cynic. It punishes the hysterical - so let's not write off the veteran Ukrainian's career just yet.
Instead, let's give major props - Verhoeven for boxing so gallantly, Usyk for pulling it out of the fire - and ignore X's republic of hot takes eager to conclude the latter is finished.
One swallow doesn't make a summer. Because, let's have it right - if Usyk suddenly isn't Hall-of-Fame worthy, then absolutely nobody should be getting through the door.
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