Should Wilder be considered rank 3?

Definitely at least rank 3. I would probably consider Wilder for rank 2 before I would consider him for rank 4.

Assuming Wilder is as good as he was before his loss (which might not be the case admittedly), I think he would easily beat Povetkin and Whyte, and I'd probably favor Wilder to beat Ruiz and even AJ. In fact, I still think Wilder poses a very significant threat to Fury -- likely more-so than AJ does. Yes, Fury dominated Wilder in the rematch, but perhaps only by shocking the world with a radical style change. Considering that the advantage of surprise won't be on Fury's side next time, I maintain Wilder could beat Fury in a third match.

This is very much predicated on Wilder still being as good as he was before his loss. It's very possible that Wilder has lost a lot of his drive after such a big and humiliating loss and hence won't anywhere near his former self. I very much hope that's not the case.

 

Look at the difference in volume of these top 10 live bodies Povetkin defeated.

Defeated Ring Rated #2 heavyweight Dillian Whyte
Defeated Ring rated #4 Ruslan Chagaev
Defeated Ring Rated #8 Mike Perez
Defeated Ring Rated #1 cruiser champ Marko Huck

That’s 4 clear cut opponents that were ring rated at the time Povetkin faced them. Now let’s add

Carlos Takam who rated immediately after losing to Povetkin at number 10. (Transnational boxing had him rated at 5 at the time of meeting Povetkin) Ring would subsequently move him to number 9

Eddie Chambers 30-0 when Povetkin faced him, after the loss Eddie would to defeat Sam Peter and an undefeated Alexander Dimentrenko - allowing his rating to climb to Ring Rated number 3.

Povetkin also defeated - Former world champions Chris Byrd (past prime) and Hasim Rahman (shot)

He also has drawn with Current Ring rated number 8 Michael Hunter.

Compare this to Wilder’s Ring rated opposition.

Completely Shot Sergei Liakovich
Completely Shot Chris Arreola
Completely Shot B. Stiverne 2

Arreola and Stiverne had no right to even receive shots at Wilders belt. Putrid politics.

Comebacking Fury (Draw most felt Fury won)
Fit Fury in rematch (L for Wilder by KO)

Wilder’s wins come down to Stiverne 1 for belt. Quality win
And Ortiz 2x - an older fighter in their 40s but still dangerous quality wins imo.
D. Breazale Already bludgeoned by Joshua. Doubt he makes any noise in division going forward.

It’s clear by a wide margin which fighter has faced better opposition. It’s also clear to me that a fighter winning by KO on the road against the 2nd highest rated heavyweight after already being rated as a top 10 heavyweight should be rated higher than a man coming of a clear cut dominant Ko loss.

Povetkin > Wilder

This doesn’t mean Wilder shouldn’t be rated, hardly, just means he shouldn’t occupy the 3rd slot at the moment.

 

Not till he fights again

 

Oh, yeah, Povetkin now is old, of course Povetkin's resume is very good. Especially if bearing in mind his opponents AGE and previous fights results when they had faced Povetkin. Prime Povetkin had lost only to Wlad by decision and Wlad then was not too old.

 

34 y.o Povetkin had stopped 29 y.o Charr, before this fight Charr had only one loss with stoppage vs Klit cos cut. Pov switched Charr completely off. Charr then had been ranked highly, looks that even after loss vs Pov he still remained ranked in top 10 by some orgs and boxrec.
35 y.o Pov had stopped 33 y.o Takam and 29 y.o Perez, these BEFORE fight vs Pov didn't had lost fights via stoppage in pro records. Pov was first boxer who stopped them in distance. Perez really hits very hard for his size and Povetkin finished him in 1 st round.
36 y.o Pov had stopped very large HW dude 35 y.o Wach. Nothing special, just very durable and large. Before Pov he had lost only lost via UD vs Wlad, looks that 36 y.o Wlad. Both, Wach and Wlad if compare with Povetkin are LARGE and Pov was small boxer vs them.

 

The Huck fight on Povetkin resume does have also another comparision.
Povetkin had fought 27 y.o Huck and Huck then had 35 pro fights under belt.
Huck before he get finished by Glowacki, get moderate beatup from Briedis and finish vs Usyk, looks that was really durable even for HW criteria. 32 y.o Huck lasted all 12 rounds vs 32 y.o Briedis, yeah, he had lost this fight vs Briedis in Germany but he performed vs Briedis better than large and durable Charr, Charr was 247-252 lber and only few months older than Briedis.
& Looks that Huck before decline was at least better than 33.y.o HW Takam, 29 y.o Perez and 35 y.o Wach versions ( Wach is very large if compare with Povetkin's size ) and 29-32 years old Charr's versions.
If based on their fights vs prime Povetkin and compare these with 32.y.o Pov fight vs 27 y.o Huck.

 

Said nobody who knows anything about boxing!

 

Two victories against Ortiz who was in the top 10 and a draw against Fury probably brought him a lot of points and a high place in the rankings...

 

Number 3?

No, he after Fury II is ranked n.1 of the best boxing disasters in the last years.

 

Career resume, no doubt.

The only reason to have Wilder above Pov now is age. If they were the same age I'd easily put Pov above Wilder, not that Wilder couldn't win vs. Pov.
There are other HWs besides Pov & Wilder you could put at #3. Some think Usyk. If Ruiz made a better showing in his rematch w/AJ why not Ruiz at #3? Fatso is still 1-1, w/the stoppage win, vs. who most think is one of the top two HWs in the world.

 

Wilder and Povetkin are the clear choices for #3. But anyone writing post after post claiming Povetkin deserves it because he beat Eddie Chambers 13 years ago and Ruslan Chagaev a decade ago is ridiculous.

I have Wilder #3. I can see why people would rate Povetkin #3 because of his last win over Whyte. But I have Wilder #3. They've basically fought the same number of rated fighters. Wilder has the better record among rated fighters between the two. And Wilder's big performances all came more recently. Povetkin's were all many years ago, until he scored one big upset last summer.

I'll be rooting for Povetkin in his return with Whyte. Coming off two hospitalizations with Covid, I think Povetkin probably won't win, though. He probably should've left on that high note.

Wilder had a bad loss last time out, but he was undefeated for 12 years. I'm not going to bash him too hard or toss him out of the mix for one loss to the world champ.

It's not like he got knocked cold by a 40-year-old or quit against an obese late sub.

 

Yep it will be settled in a month but for my money when you knock out the number 2 heavy in the world - and going in you were already rated a top 5-6 heavy in the world you deserve the number 2 spot regardless of age. Considering the man that had the number 3 spot was knocked out in his last fight (or towel thrown in to save him) and as a side point isn’t it ridiculous that in an Elimination bout - Povetkin has to win twice now?
I’m rooting for old man POV. He has consistently fought the best competition available and should be rewarded

 

HW division matchups and these clauses really are ridiculous and laughable.
If they had tournament format like WBSS, division had been more interesting.
Eddie and Co really are joke.
40 y.o 11 months 224 lber handles out real concussion on 32 y.o 252 lber who was ranked higher than Povetkin.
Now after covid and being twice in hosptals 41 y.o Pov should fight vs the same dude again because this is cool for Eddie and Co.
To laugh at old, long years out of prime and over the hill boxer.

If they wished, might had managed for Whyte some title shot without fight vs Povetkin cos Whyte had been ranked better tha Pov.
Before this fight Whyte was ranked higher than Pov.
Now they are scared, had reanimated old Pov, put him on clauses and outcome: Whyte now is ranked lower than Pov.