Let me guess the next threads to appear in the forum: "Your top 4 heavyweights?" "Describe heavyweight boxing in one word?"
At present Basing it purley on resumes 1. AJ 2. Fury 3. Whyte - although he goes ahead of Fury if he beats Rivas. 4. Povetkin 5. Wilder / Parker
C) Vacant. Can't live off cocaine and kebabs for three years, retire twice, get suspended for a banned substance, and still claim to be the guy. You just can't, regardless of what your definition of "lineal" is. 1) Joshua. A shoo-in. Beat the #1 contender (Wlad) in Fury's absence and has amassed the best resume since then. 2) Fury. Beat consensus #2 in Wilder, got robbed. 3) Wilder. Always playing catch up to Joshua's resume, and a gift draw against a rusty Fury doesn't help that cause. 4) Whyte. On by far and away the best streak outside the top three. 5) Povetkin. Better resume than the next three contenders (Ortiz, Pulev, Parker) so credit in the bank sees him close out the list.
Can't really argue with this breakdown, although I think Parker's competitive performance vs Whyte gives him a boost.
If you take H2H into account, then I'd say there's not much between Whyte, Povetkin, Ortiz, Parker and Pulev. Focusing more on resume just made it that much easier to decide who rounded out the list.
Fair enough, though I'd like to see how much Povetkin has left before categorically rating him. I've got a feeling he might be a diminished fighter.
