1: Usyk 2: Fury 3: Joshua 4: Wilder 5: Whyte Fury officially said he retired after backing out the Klitschko rematch, which meant Joshua became the real champion. Yes Fury came back, but nobody knew that was going to happen for sure, and Joshua was the superior fighter with the superior resume compared to Wilder, so Fury’s win over Wilder does not change that. Usyk is number one in the division now until Fury, or Joshua beats him.
Fury - It's between him and Usyk and I would rank Fury's win over Wlad over Usyk's win over AJ. Usyk - Only 3 fights but beaten a proven gatekeeper in Chisora more impressively than Parker or Whyte and out classed Joshua. Joshua - Unified champion win over Wlad and his resume is deeper than anyone else's he's a clear 3rd for me. Wilder - Former champion but his resume is really thin, how good is Ortiz anyway? Couldn't even beat a 50% Fury, his ranking might very well drop once the guys coming up build their resumes or he faces some of the other big names. Whyte/Ruiz Jr - Yes Whyte lost to Povetkin but he did win the rematch for what little that counts and his resume is pretty solid with wins over Parker, Chisora and Rivas. It's him of Andy Ruiz. He lost to Parker, AJ and his performance against Arreola was poor, I can't clearly rank him over Whyte, I'd say they are about even. Not even sure who'd win if they fought.
Blows my mind how people can rank Wilder higher than Joshua... his best win is Luis Ortiz, an old man who hasn't beaten anyone of note himself! If Deontay had fought who AJ has, he'd have taken a good few L's by now.
2017 version of Klitschko, yes. Klitschko's last career win was a dreary points decision over Bryant Jennings in 2015 (2 years prior to AJ-Wlad). Luis Ortiz did much better against Jennings a few months later. Prime Klitschko was obviously better than Luis Ortiz. But 2017 version, there's no evidence to say he was better than Ortiz.
I think possibly is the key word there, Ortiz due to his thin resume might be about as good as Takam, maybe he's better than Whyte and old Povetkin, though I think maybe that Povetkin might of hand enough to beat him as both would gas out around the same time. I wouldn't put Ortiz anywhere near Wlad even that old Wlad. Can you imagine if Parker had only fought guys like Hammer and Kaufmann since losing to Joshua, can you imagine how high some might rank him off of the Takam and Ruiz wins. Ortiz right now he's a guy who's best achievement is beating Jennings and getting beaten twice by Wilder. Losing impressively is still losing, Chisora and Takam often lose fights but do so having given a good account of themselves. Fact is we really don't know how good Ortiz was or is.
But Wilder didn't fight 2015 Ortiz did he. Ortiz was already 36 when he fought Jennings, he was 38 when fighting Wilder and had struggled vs Scott and Allen. A strong case can be made that he was already past prime, especially as we know he was on meds for his hypertension which saw him fail a drug test.
Yes, I agree, but he (in 2018) was possibly as good as old Wlad, Parker, or old Povetkin. I don't rate Ortiz highly but I'm just pointing out that AJ's opposition hasn't exactly been as thrilling as people make out, all things considered. Parker is on current evidence about Chisora-level, and he's one of AJ's best wins. Wlad's held up as AJ's signature win, but he hadn't won a fight in 2 years, and that was a poor showing against Jennings, the same fighter Ortiz beat to gain a high ranking. Wlad looked a bit **** against Jennings and Fury really, and failed miserably to finish off a novice AJ. People seem to ignore that.
This is a fair point. Ortiz was just over 2 years removed from the Jennings win. Wlad was 2 years removed from his Jennings win when he faced AJ (and had won nothing in meantime). It still looks like they might be about equal.
I personally think that the Klitschko that faced AJ was the best version of Wlad' since he beat Pulev - he was very driven, super fit and "obsessed" with becoming a 3 x HW Champ. A much more dangerous opponent than a "38" year old Ortiz with health conditions, in my book.