There are a lot of interesting fights to be made. The landscape is set to shift dramatically in the next few years. Wladimir Klitschko - Wladimir still sits, as he has for a decade, at the top of the heap. Though clearly still the best of the bunch, it's likely he will slow down in his next few fights as he approaches 40. One thing people may want to consider with Wladimir is that he tends to be better against taller fighters. Deontay Wilder - Deontay still has a lot of questions to answer. Unfortunately for everyone, Stiverne was not the man to ask any questions. Wilder's chin is still a question for me, as is his overall skill set. He's certainly improved since the days of "Windmiller", but sometimes his punching technique is awful. His power is certainly good, and he showed a nice jab in the Stiverne fight. We'll see how he performs against a well schooled world class opponent. Alexander Povetkin - Sasha is the guy no one thinks will be king, but very well may take over. He has a very respectable resume and has proven only the best can beat him (albeit via excessive hugging). Povetkin is the kind of guy who can expose poor punching technique (something 3 of the 5 suffer from). He has enough power and skill to punish mistakes, and right now is likely a small favorite over any of the younger heir's apparent. Tyson Fury - Fury is the wildcard of the bunch. He seems legitimately insane. He is good at everything, but not great at anything. Furthermore, his chin poses a problem having been dropped by several light hitters. If any of the five are going to go off the deep end and gain 25 lbs, it'll be Fury. With all that said, he has the size and ability to give anyone a good fight. Anthony Joshua - Joshua is getting tremendous exposure. The british hype machine is fully behind him. People are already forgetting about him "winning" his gold medal. There is some David Price style hyping going on right now which worries me. Joshua seems to have all the skills necessary, but for some reason I'm not sold. He was having all kinds of problems recently enough at the olympics, and now that he's knocked over a bunch of cans and old men, I STILL don't see a fighter as good as people are claiming. He's a hell of a prospect, don't get me wrong, but besides size and power, I'm not seeing anything truly special. What do you think, ESB?
If you HAD to name a KING, out of that group, I'd say only Joshua has the complete enough package to beat the most types of styles. That said. In 2 yrs time, there will be a new golden era with 5 HW titles floating around like in the 90s.
If any HW in history could fight 40+ it's the Klitschko's and Foreman. Wlad has a very good understanding of his body and keeps in amazing shape. It also helps that he is tall and doesn't take a lot of punishment. Wlad could fight in his early 40's. Probably around 42-43. IMO, Vitali could fight until he is 50 because of his height, chin and awkward style.
Wlad's gonna take Fury, the IBF mando, then the WBA mando and he's OUT. Done. Sayonara. Aufweidersehen. Bis Bald. TshuB. Hasta Luoego. By By. See ya. Orevvoir. Arivaderricci. You gotta know he's done after September 2016.:think
2 years is almost certainly too soon for AJ but I don't care. He'll be the best out of that group in 2 years :deal
:nod Everyone's heard what he has to say about AJ by now, he doesn't want to be around anymore once it's AJ's turn.
This is cute. Wlad is not leaving while these jokers are around, at least not until he beats all of them. He has a W over Povetkin, Fury is next, plenty of time to try to lure AJ in for a title fight.
I say Klitschko 'cause even though Fury and Joshua might have youth on their side, they don't have the ***** to take the test.
Wlad leading the poll isn't surprising. Wilder and Povetkin being last is. If they fought, the winner would be a clear #2.