Just an observation...all the wild west heavyweight champs have 4-5 notable wins.

Firstly, I am adopting Rummy's term for this era. Perfect.

Just something that occurred to me. All of the ABC heavyweight champs are all at a similar level of experience. It doesn't work perfectly, as by "noteworthy" I mean anything from a high-quality champ to a fringe contender who put up a great fight. I will put up some of the asterixes myself, but here is what I mean...

DUBOIS
Joshua
Hrgovic
Warldly
Miller
Lerena

KABAYEL
Zhang
Sanchez
Makhmudov (hasn't aged well, but big at the time)
Knyba (not big at the time, but has aged well)
Chisora

HRGOVIC
Zhang
Ituama
Adeleye (Fringe contender at best, but good record and great fight)
Joyce (Shot, but it was his best fight of the losings streak)
Allen/McQueen (Hrgo has the weakest depth wise...but for the sake of argument...)

GASSIEV
Pulev (yes, he was 45)
Lebedev (Yes, cruiserweight, but championship experience)
Wlodarczyk (Yes, cruiserweight, but championship experience)
Dorticos (Yes, cruiserweight, but championship experience)
Cora Jr. (Pretty good cruiserweight contender, as I remember)

Again, nothing profound, here. You may have some additions of subtractions, but they are all at a similar place, experience wise.

 

Dubois has a deeper heavyweight resume than the other guys.

Gassiev has yet to beat a single top 10 heavyweight while Dubois has beaten 3 or 4

 

Kabayel stands out because he has no defeat(s).

 

Not his top wins, though.

Joshua is overrated, just look at his win-lose balance in the last 6 years or so. Miller was post PEDs. Lerena is not a top heavyweight. And hrgovic should have gone to the cards after he headbutted him out of the fight with home refereeing. He probably should have lost that fight.

Usually I am more of a Dubois supporter, when his haters come out. But I don't think his resume differs much from the others in his top wins.

To me the depth of his resume is rather in the wins against better lower tier fighters than the others and that he was allowed to try twice against usyk.

But let's be honest that is the privilege of having Frank Warren give him every possible opportunity.

Gassiev doesn't belong in the list to me until he beats a proper heavyweight. Even more so as he lost to wallin.

But i dont see much of a difference between dubois, kabayel and hrgovic. From what I have seen, I think kabayel is probably the best and most interesting with his body attack and sturdyness, but I would like to see them all in fights against each other and can also imagine dubois proving to be the best in history's eyes.

 

Gassiev unfortunately has not a single notable victory in the division he holds a belt in
A very weird situation to have him as a champion

 

Joseph Parker enters the chat.....

 

Why?

He isn't a current champion

 

Bunch of lumbering oafs, exciting fights ahead though, lol!

 

Disagree. Dubois lost to Usyk which doesn’t count, and he gave a good account of himself against prime juggernaut. He stands out for me. Has kabayel even faced anyone at the same level of those two?

 

There's no one like Usyk, but there is someone like Joe Joyce.

 

Dubois has a sneakily good resume, and frankly is an underrated boxer, he has genuine skills that people overlook because he has zero charisma or skills on the mic.

If he benefitted from mid-2010s Anthony Joshua-type Sky hype, he’d be a national icon. I say that as someone who isn’t a Dubois fan but recognises that he’s almost absurdly underrated by casuals and even many hardcores.

 

Hrogovic has probably the best resume. Itauma no one wanted to fight. No one. He beat Zhang when he was destroying everyone. Dubois deserve a lot of credit for fighting Usyk twice and for his comeback win against Wardley and that is a pick em rematch. Gassiev hasn’t fought anyone scary at heavyweight. Kaybel has a few decent wins. Fury might still beat them all but I doubt he sticks around. Itauma will rule if he learns from Hro fight. Reminded me so much of Wlad Purrity fight. Pacing and being a pro!

 

Wardley is shot now. Itauma is a bundle of flaws with speed and power.

 

He waxed Zhang who destroyed Joyce twice.