Rank the top 10 heavyweights of the 21st century (so far)

Sanders has to be right up there if we are including Lewis' win over Vitali in the early 00s .. cos he whooped WK bad..

 

1. Usyk
2. Fury
3. Lewis (would be higher but was at the very end of his career after 2000)
4. Wlad
5. Vitali
6. Povetkin
7. Byrd
8. Rahman
9. AJ
10. Wilder

 

1- Wladimir Klitschko

2- Lennox Lewis

3- Vitali Klitschko

4- Oleksandr Usyk

5- Anthony Joshua

6- Tyson Fury

7- Alexander Povetkin

8- Deontay Wilder

9- Chris Byrd

10- Ruslan Chagaev

 

Lennox wasn't around enough this century to be number one

 

Usyk
Wlad
Lewis
Vitali
Fury
Joshua
Byrd
Povetkin
Wilder
Chagaev

 

Wlad
Usyk
Fury
Joshua
Vitali
Povetkin
Byrd
Parker
Chagaev
Wilder

if Dubois beats Parker he can jump into the list.

 

The top 5 are easy it's too difficult after that..

Usyk
WK
Lewis
Vitali
Fury

Sanders, Povetkin, Wilder, Joshua, Byrd, Haye, Ibragimov, Maskaev, Rahman, Dubois, Peter, Chagaev, Parker, McCline etc..

 

AJ doesn`t belong on this list, his looses to Ruiz and Dubois were awful, he has no chin and is easy to hit with the right hand because he always keeps his left hand low.

 

In 100 years, I suspect people will primarily look at who were the champions and who they beat during their reigns (as well as who they lost to). So, based on that.

1. Wladimir Klitschko
- The man of the division. 13 wins at World Title level against top 10 opponents (Byrd ’00, Byrd ’06, Brock ’06, Brewster ’07, Ibragimov ’08, Chagaev ’09, Chambers ’10, Peter ’10, Haye ’11, Thompson ’12, Povetkin ’13, Pulev ’14, Jennings ’15). Took some losses but he was a very active champion.

2. Lennox Lewis
- The man of the division, and 5 wins at World Title level against 5 different top 10 opponents (Grant ’00, Tua ’00, Rahman ’01, Tyson ’02, V. Klitschko ’03). Took a loss to Rahman which he avenged, finished his career by beating an HOFer.

3. Oleksandr Usyk
- The man of the division, with 4 wins at World Title level against 2 different top 10 opponents (Joshua ’21, Joshua '22, Fury '24, Fury '24). He will probably climb to #2 once his career is over.

4. Vitali Klitschko
- Many argue he was the better of the two brothers. Ran Lennox Lewis very close and took a loss to Byrd. 3 wins at World Title level against 3 different opponents (Sanders ’04, Peter ’08, Adamek ’11).

5. Anthony Joshua
- Two-time champion. Took some losses along the way but was willing to fight the young and the old. 7 wins at World Title level against 7 different opponents (Martin '16, Klitschko '17, Takam '17, Parker '18, Povetkin '18, Ruiz Jr. '19, Pulev '20).

6. Tyson Fury
- Two-time champion. Could/should have been number 1 on this list, but ultimately a wasted talent. Took fewer losses than Joshua but was too selective with opponents. 4 wins at World Title level against 3 different opponents (Klitschko ’15, Wilder ’20, Wilder '21, Whyte '22). Can leap to #4 with a win over Joshua.

7. Chris Byrd
- Two-time champion. Some argue was avoided by Lewis. Beat V. Klitschko. 2 wins at World Title level over 2 different top ten opponents (Klitschko ’00, Holyfield ’02).

8. Deontay Wilder
- one-time, long reigning champion who started taking losses as he aged, but that also describes his best wins. 3 wins at World Title level over 2 different top ten opponents (Stiverne ’15, Ortiz ’18, Ortiz ’19)

9. John Ruiz
- Two-time champion. Took a number of losses along the way, including losing his belt to Jones Jr. 3 wins at World Title level over 2 different top ten opponents (Holyfield ’01, Johnson ’02, Rahman ’03)

10. Nikolai Valuev
- Two-time champion. Took a loss to Chagaev in his prime. 2 wins at World Title level over 2 different top ten opponents (Ruiz ’05, Barrett ’06)

 

1)Wlad
2)Lennox
3)Dubois
4)Usyk
5)Joshua
6)Povetkin
7)Chagaev
8)Fury
9)Wilder
10)Vitali

Vitalis title SOS was awful and don't consider his 2nd belt to be real but none of the other options nudged him. Valuev came the closest. Parker will get 10th if he beats Dubois. Kabayel or Hrgovic would need like 3 fights assuming they were the right fights.

If you're thinking Dubois didn't do enough to pass Usyk hes got over 3 times as many wins. Lerena just went on to become Brigerweight champ.

 

Yet still had just as many fights as Usyk , against more opponents, and a better resume in that period. Go figure right..

In the 00s, he beat

Michael Grant, a highly rated undefeated top contender.
Botha, a former WC.
Tua, one of the top Hws of the era
Rahman
Tyson
Vitali.

Yet apparently he didn't do enough in the 00s. Absolutely shocking that so many here put Usyk ahead of Lennox in the 00s. Recency bias is such a thing.

 

Valuev was the worst champ since 2000, Ruiz was a poor champ as well, Holyfield was really old and past it when he lost to Ruiz.

 

That's fine. And some would argue it was a weak period. Still, they were both two-time champions, which is more than many achieved.

Though I'm not sure Holyfield was "really old and past it" when he was fighting Ruiz, as it was about a year after he had run Lewis close for undisputed. And many had Ruiz winning the first fight.

 

Are you seriously comparing Ruiz with Lewis? A prime Holy would have toyed with Ruiz as would most heavyweight from the early 90`s.

 

Nah, in fairness, you are right. 38/39 is too old even for a roided up Evan Fields. But I am saying, Lewis was ran close in the rematch and it was only 9 months later when he fought Ruiz. So, I think you are being unfair to Ruiz a bit.