Heavyweights of today and Klitschko era.

It's probably from improvements in "training" extending their careers beyond what we have previously seen

 

Wilder = Peter both second rate WBC champions who lost when they stepped up.... Actually no Peter at least beat several contenders Maskaev, Mccline, and Toney x2, WIlder beat a bum Stivern who was gifted a title without winning it then beat no one... yes Ortiz was never good even had to have an opponent take a dive and has been just a glorified gatekeeper who lost the only two times he stepped up against limited opposition.

AJ decent scalp Jury is out on how good he actually is after two upset losses.

Usyk... Looks like the real deal but paper thin resume at HW kind of like Haye. except Haye destroyed Chisora and Usyk didn't.

the top ten of today is pretty poor.

 

Wlad actually fought two of them I think he proved conclusively that if he'd had 4 years less AJ would have been toast. And Fury managed to just squeeze past him in a fight so boring that it slots in next to Nelson vs De leon.

 

That's a fair enough point to make. Helenius would make the grade as well. Maybe even Price!

 

He's 37 for a start and having watched him throughout his career he's put in better performances - win or lose - these past few years than he has done throughout his career

 

Caught a few nibbles though

 

Of course he has ... because he's not fighting friggin Vitali Klitscko anymore

 

Major difference is that you don't have many promoters/media organisations trying to poison the well by talking about how "poor" the division is. In the past 6 years or so there has been a real turning point in how commentators address the heavyweight division.

 

Very well said! Great post!

 

We have to pick a particular year of comparison: Wlad may have been prime in 2012 but Vitali was about to retire, it's not like the brothers were prime at the same time. It's also unfair to compare all of the fighters from a 10+ year period to the fighters from a particular year or few years.

A rough comparison:

2011: Wlad, Vitali, Povetkin, Haye, Pulev, Fury, Chisora, Adamek, Arreola, Helenius

2021: Fury, Usyk, Wilder, Joshua, Joyce, Hrgovic, Yoka, Makhmudov, Wallin, Sanchez

For me 2021 is stronger, especially towards the back end of the top 10.

 

You nailed it there, important point. US/UK media & promotional outfits marketing has major sway in setting the narrative. A couple of Ukrainians fighting out of Germany was a pretty hard sell to the usual crowd.

 

Apart from Fury and Usyk the rest are mediocre/average. AJ barely squeaked past inactive grandpa Wlad. Wilder was protected his whole career and his management avoided an undisputed fight with Wlad. Guys like Whyte and Joyce would’ve had zero chance vs Prime Vitali/Wlad and would be derided as unskilled bums after getting their heads handed to them.

 

Byrd, Ibragimov, Chagev were all champions. The top 10 depth is better than, and none of the top 4 beat echo ether outside if Usyk beating Joshua. I don't consider Wider top 4.

 

What makes this era a bit different to me is there are lots of unproven guys with a lot of potential imo. Your Yoka's, Jalovov's, Mahmoudov's, Dychko's...whether or not they ever get the fights to prove it who knows. But your challengers like Whyte, Parker, Ruiz are definitely not any better than Wlads top opponents.

 

Group 1:
Fury.
Usyk.
Joshua.

Group 2:
Whyte.
Parker.
Joyce.
Hrgovic.
Ruiz.
Wilder.

Todays era has both wider depth and sharper edge.

Only Wlad and Vitali would fit in the Group 1 category. They preyed on weaker oposition than Todays top fighters. Its not by a huge margin but its most definitely better now.