If Wladimir defeats Boystov, Pulev, Price, and Povetkin before retiring...how much higher will you move him up on your list?
Wlad has not fought consecutive champions at 147 like Pacman Wlad will have the question mark on his record untill fights lennox lewis for title of undisputed champ
Boytsov and Price have yet to fight any world class opponents, so it's impossible at this moment to say how good they'd be as wins. Pulev could use a bit of seasoning as well. I don't rate Povetkin much as a fighter, but he'd be a good enough name to have on the resume. Wlad's going to gain more to his overall historical standing by longevity as champ, rather than by any specific opponents he beats.
the only guy who can make Wlad's resume look better (at least currently) is Povetkin Price and Boystov have beaten nobody of note, Pulev has some decent names, but his resume is still not on Povetkin's level
Which ever up and coming contenders Volodymyr defeats the question is what they end up doing with the rest of their career. If he beats Pulev and Price for example and they go on to be belt holders with a respectable amount of defenses then it would obviously increase his legacy a significant amount. He needs to knock off as many of these young contenders as he can to ensure he'll have future HW belt holders on his resume.
You can't predict who will and who won't make it big in the future, but it's a little cheap to try to knock off prospects before they've matured in order to ensure you have a bunch of potential name opponents on your resume. Rather, he should keep doing what he's doing: fighting the top rated guys and thoroughly dominating them. Let history sort out the rest.
Would depend what they do in future really. I think it would be funny actually if say Haye was to beat Vitali, then you would have all the Hayetards having to place Wladimir considerably higher among the ATG rankings.
I think his Legacy would improve if he fights someone that goes on to be a great heavyweight after he retires. But i don't see that happening.
Right now is all we can speculate on. Not a list of 4 or 5 opponents who he'd fight over the next couple years. The only two guys who significantly improve his legacy now is Povetkin (who very well may be his best career victory), with Pulev also being one of the better opponents he would have faced.
Wladimir's legacy is set in stone. Those undefeated crop of challengers would just be the cherry on the cake on his excellent resume.