Bivol/Beterbiev ATG LHW potential

Maybe I'm a bit stuck in the past, so take this with a grain of salt. I wouldn't include Beterviev or Bivol in the top 20 after their fight. Their resumes are too thin for top 20 in such a deep division imo.

 

Too thin and Beterbiev, at his age, would have no chance of getting there.

Bivol, with wins over Canelo and Zurdo, who has gone on to be a cruiserweight champ, just might have a good foundation for shooting for it if he adds Beterbiev, but at 33, it will be tough. A LOT of good guys have gone through this division--Fitzsimmons, Maxim, Loughran, Conn, Moore, Charles, Marshal, Johnson, Foster, Spinks, Qawi, Mustafa Muhammed, Muhammed Saad, Jones Jr, etc. So whose place is he taking?

 

Not sure regarding historical rankings. But the truth is that Beterbiev is unbelievably destructive as a fighter. He would crush a lot of guys in LHW history ranked ahead of him. He is the single hardest hitting LHW i have seen in my 20 years of watching boxing.

 

I reckon the winner overtakes Bob Foster who is overrated on this forum in all honesty.

 

Which still would not get him in the top ten. Besides, there are still 10 guys I didn't even name, there. Stacked division!

 

The thing is people rate Foster in the top 10 most of the time but would his resume be better than Bivol's or Beterbiev's whoever wins ? Foster's claim to fame is beating D*ck Tiger and although he had success at Light Heavyweight really Tiger was a Middleweight and he weighed 168 pounds vs Foster.

My theory is if these same people rate Foster in their top 10 I can’t see how the winner of Bivol/Beterbiev isn't in their top 10 either.

 

I have them currently (ATG LHW)
40. Beterbiev
41. Kovalev
42. Michalczewskli
43. Tarver
44. Toney
45. Bivol

 

Winner gets into the top 20 for sure. Top 10 might be a stretch, but as has been pointed out Foster doesn't have that many top tier wins.

 

And I agree with the point. Mine is that Foster is maybe...maybe...top 15.

 

I agree not to sound disrespectful to other posters but I always find it baffling Foster is considered close to top 5 Light Heavyweight.

 

That’s a very tall order. The number of great light heavyweights in the history of the division is vast. Beterbiev and Bivol certainly have the talent, but there isn’t enough competition in the division after they fight each other.

If there was no 168 or cruiserweight division there would be more talent at 175 like it was in the past.

To break into the top 10 they’d be in the same company as guys like Archie Moore, Billy Conn, Maxie Rosenbloom, Tommy Loughran, Gene Tunney, Bob Foster, Michael Spinks, John Henry Lewis, Harold Johnson, Joey Maxim, etc...

It’s very unlikely that Beterbiev or Bivol would be able to do enough before their careers are over.

 

Great post. When you consider all the great fighters that have passed thru or weighed in the LHw range (even a fighter like Tommy Burns, the hw champ) it may be the most stacked division in history.

breaking into the top 10 was always going to be a tall task for either bivol or beter, but I think a decisive/impressive win for either 1 could've potentially gotten them into the top 20 & maybe just inside the top 15. The fact that their fight ended so indecisively leaves both fighters' legacies in a bit of limbo IMO.

 

What’s your Top 40? Honestly interested, I like that kind of thing. If you have a Top 45 you must have given it a lot of thought.