Chagaev was coming off an Achilles injury and had been inactive for awhile. He also tested positive for hepatitis, but may have been asymptomatic. He also took the fight on short notice when Haye got injured.
I suppose you have to do the experiment of removing Wlad from the timeline, and then where do Byrd and Povetkin end up?
Chagev failed medical test against Valeuv and later against David Haye. Instead of facing Valeuv , Wlad selected the guy who was unfit to fight on medical grounds. HBO saw this and decided not to broadcast the fight. Imagine a network not wanting to air an Antony Johsua fight. Its unfathomable. Klitshcko fought in the worst HW division known to mankind so its no biggie for him
1. Povetkin 2. Haye 3. Puvlev 4. Chagaev 5. Ibragimov 6. Byrd 7. Peter 8.Thompson 9. Chambers 10. Brock Top 3 imo are Povetkin, Haye and Puvlev overall pretty solid list and beat more solid contenders then almost any other Heavyweight and dominated them all
remove Byrd’s two losses to Wlad and Povetkin’s 1 loss and substitute an opponent that they probably beat - both guys would have a case for the HOF
Nobody else at that time was stopping Chisora and Ruiz or making Valuev do a little dance. He was also beating up Wilder in sparring. Go get some sunlight.
Don't try to act cool on here while sending me rage DM's. You can address the point I made about his performances near the Wlad fight.
You probably end up with an era similar to the 80's. A lackluster wasteland with no clear top dog and the title changes hands multiple times. Byrd, Povetkin, Haye, Peter, Thompson, Chambers, and Pulev playing hot potato. I wouldn't be shocked if Povetkin had the most success, but I doubt he manages more than 1-2 title defense. All those guys could be limited and/or inconsistent and none of them were good enough to clear out the division. Maybe Haye surprises us all and emerges the best, he did have the most raw talent with good paper and speed. Byrd had the best technique and defense, but was feather fisted and undersized so I'm not sure he could maintain a long steak either. We are also assuming Vitali doesn't step in and his career remains the same. He'd be the Larry Holmes figure and we're left with a pretty frustrating era.