Vitali and Vlad are the best heavyweights in the world today. It so appears that if Vitali decides not to retire, he will probably be fighting Wilder, since Stiverne is held up in court and not allowed to fight because Don King won't let him. Vitali already stopped Arreola who is #2 WBC, so that leaves Wilder who is ranked #3 WBC without ever fighting anyone in the top 50! Whatever, how did Wilder get ranked #3 WBC? I think Vitali should go ahead an knock Wilder out, then retire........... Vladimir tried to get a rematch with Sanders, but Sanders refused to fight him, that is a fact!!!!!!!
Three options: Chagaev Haye Povetkin I say Chagaev and if you didn't think that qualified than I will say that Povetkin would have for me.
His brother is unranked/retired. He beat the #2 in the division in Povetkin. Lineage has been established. If you say it hasn't then you're just a hater.
We can't blame him for not establishing a lineage: I forgot whats his first girl name was, but she was not Lineage material & slept with half of L.A., causing him to lose a big fight. Then he met the midget Hayden Panettiere, she cheats on him with the Danny Garcia lookalike, they break up. Wlad The gentleman he is, he takes her back, buys her an expensive ring, just for her to go have an affair with the the charismatic Ali Raymi who is everything Wlad is not -how can he live with that, let alone establish a lineage- (not sure how Hayden Panettiere managed to get a hold of Ali Raymi, but whores work in an amazing way :huh ) Leave Wlad alone, great specimen rarely get to establish a lineage. Its always ruthless rude Roberto Duran type of guys who get the job done :smooch
Haye, Povetkin, Thompson x2, Peter x2, Brewster, Chambers, Chagaev, Ibragimov, Brock, Byrd and whoever else I'm forgetting. Are these guys tomatoes? Sure, he does have easy opponents on the list too but that's what the division has to offer. All Wladimir can do is fight who he's supposed to fight to keep his titles.
giving belts recognition when it isn't necessary (wlad is clearly the best HW) is helping to prolong the problems boxing has, and confuses fans new to the sport wlad is #1 - that's all that matters
I would like to see him win the WBC title and then dump all the belts (maybe keep the ring belt though.)