Top 15 heavyweights, 2002-2017.

Top 15 heavyweights, 2002-2017. I'm going to tinker with his later, so the order can change.

Scoring:

1 ) Number of title defenses 25%

2 ) Number of top ten opponents beaten that appear in Ring Magazine Annual ratings 25%

3 ) Head to head projection 25%. IMO

4 ) Overall Record and activity in the timeline 25%

1 ) Wlad - Active from 2002-2017, The longest tenured champion, most wins over the top ten opponents. What else is there to say.

2 ) Vitali - Next highest in wins over the top ten opponents, and title defenses. Only lost once via a cut in the timeline. His initial retirement from 2005 to late 2008, prevents a higher ranking even though head to head he could be #1. Made the hall of fame on the first ballot, collecting the most votes in the process, I think.

3 ) Joshua, the clear #1 today, I'm placing him at #3 for now and it could be too generous. His most significant win is still over Wlad at age 41, and that one could have gone either way. He fights Povetkin ( who will be 39 ) next and needs to win this one, or he's moving down. Parker is a name win, just one boring fight.

4 ) Povetkin, underrated, only losing once in this timeline to a prime Wlad. 34-1 from 2005-2018. Has wins over Byrd, Chambers, Chagaev, Rahman, andTakam. Looked better than Wlad, Joshua, and Wilder vs. the same competition. Could move to #3 is he beats Joshua at age 39.

5 ) Chagaev, a former WBA titleholder with wins over Valuev, Ruiz, and Meehan. Only lost twice in his prime / near to Wlad and Povetkin.

6 ) Haye, active as a heavyweight from 2008 to current, he holds wins over Valuev, Ruiz, Barrett, and Chisora. Not always eager to fight the best, he declined Vitali Klitschko's offer and fought to survive vs. Wlad.

7 ) Peter - A former WBC titleholder, has wins over Toney 2X, McCline, and Maskeav. Highly rated for a while.

8 ) Wilder. After 8 WBA title defenses, Wilder has finally beaten someone in the top ten. The trouble it Ortiz was nearly 39 when it happened, and it was close. Wilder has struggled in matches vs. top 15-40 type of opponents, but he still undefeated and can undoubtedly punch. I think he loses as soon as he faces a top 5 guy in his prime. We'll see. If he collects more top ten wins, he moves up.

9 ) Ruiz. A former WBA titleholder Ruiz has wins over Valuev, Johnson, Rahman, and Golota, pretty much done by 2010. Many of the wins were very close.

10 ) Valuev. WBA titleholder. The giant fought many of the timelines, beating Ruiz, Holyfield, McCline, and Liakhovich. Losing to Chagaev and Haye in close fights.

11 ) Fury. Fury defeated Wlad at age 39 on points and has a win over Chisora. Inactivity hurts him; I tend to doubt he'll regain his form. Would like to see Fury vs. Wilder or Joshua. Fury the opportunity to climb the ranks if he's back to his physical and mental prime.

12 ) Brewster wins over Wlad, Golota, and Meehan place this durable puncher here.

13 ) Pulev only lost once to Wlad. He was highly rated one time. Pulev has decent wins over Chisora, Peter, Thompson, and Ustinov. Has a chance to move if matched vs. Joshua or Wilder and wins.

14 ) Adamek, highly rated for a while he has wins over Arreloa Grant, Estrada, and Golota. Name guys, some of which were past their primes.

15 ) Ibragimov, head to head I'd rate him higher. He retired in 2008 but had wins over Briggs, Holyfield. And Whitaker.

Just missed the cut. Sanders. He holds the best win over Wlad and gave Vitali a decent fight. The #1 and #2 on the list. I'd pick him over a lot of guys on this list. The 2002-2017 timeline doesn't work well for him as he was past his prime by 2005 and retired by 2008.

Others: Arreola, Chambers, Byrd, Toney.

 

A mix of ball parking with the above guidelines. Head to head is how I feel. Wilder was tough to place. He has a good amount of title defense, but just one top ten opponent beaten as champion.

So Wilder scores highly on being a champion with title defense, but low on quality of opposition beaten ( top ten opponents rated ). Head to head I'm not a big believer in him, we'll see when he fights a top ranked guy in his prime.

 

Lewis retired very early in the 2002-2017 time line. I didn't put Sanders in for the same reason.

I'll consider Chambers who just missed the cut, but I think Iggy and Pulev would beat him head to head.

Maybe a top 20 would be best, with Lewis and Sanders in it, and Chambers somewhere between 15-20?

 

Who has Wilder beaten? There's your answer. If Wilder can beat a few more top ten opponents has a chance to move up. Until then his best win is over a 38-41 year old, who almost had him out.

 

You might want to check, Wilder beat a Russian too, way past his best, but hey he beat him. The guy I'm talking about was a WBO champion. I guess you were unaware of that. Your retort now is what?