Paul Malignaggi explained the secret of Usyk and Lomachenko's success

Former world champion Paul Malignaggi told the secret of the success of Vasyl Lomachenko (16-2, 11 KO) and Oleksandr Usyk (20-0, 13 KO):

I think all styles are coming together now. We see Lomachenko - a fighter from Eastern Europe, who has a very flexible style, with the influence of the American style, a kind of hybrid style. He's obviously very standout from the basics and is a great fighter. In my opinion, if you can properly combine all the styles together, you will make a great fighter like Lomachenko.

When you think of an Eastern European stereotype, you think of Ivan Drago from the movie "Rocky" - a guy who hits hard, a steadfast impersonal fighter who has a kind of ice in his veins. And when you look at Lomachenko and Usyk, they always joke, they have a hybrid boxing style.

And suddenly you realize that hybrid personalities and boxing styles seem to be taking over more and more. The hard style, the technical basics, the focus on the basics came from the Soviet regime, the old communist regime, when everything was military, and it didn't matter what people did in real life.

Sport was no exception. Very, very regimented, very, very fixated on the basics. And they were very dependent on success. No nonsense, and it doesn't matter what you do. If the results don't lead to success, you're quickly replaced or you're out quickly, so the success rate was very high compared to the West, plus it was the Cold War generation, they needed to compete with the West. They were not allowed to become professionals due to the communist regime.