Best result of active HW

Without Charr's win over Lovejoy being on the list, I no longer take you seriously

 

I’m using that, ****ing brilliant!

 

Exactly what i said though ?

 

Great list.
Though I would argue Ruiz's win over Joshua is the singular best achievement of the current division.

One of the biggest upsets in the division's history for a reason. Joshua at that time was in his prime and coming off a series of good wins. He was seen as #1 in the division by most. Ruiz not only took his best shots, but put such a beating on him that some argue Joshua has never been the same since. It was an incredible performance against all the odds to become the first ever Mexican heavyweight champion.

Fury's win over Wlad in Germany was also an incredible achievement, but not as great as Ruiz's in the context of Wlad being very long in the tooth at that point (10 year champion and getting closer 40), having looked pretty crap against Jennings and ripe for the taking, and would even get stopped in his next fight out against a pretty green Joshua.

Probably not a popular take on this board, though.

 

I do see your point in fairness. For me personally, the abysmal showing by Ruiz in the rematch hinders the first result (possibly unfairly) as it looks now like he caught him with a decent shot when AJ went in for the kill which changed the fight.

I opted for Usyk above it given he backed the result up in the second fight also.

Subjective lists but I think we are both on the same page with the rationale

 

best result recently fury against wilder came in fat nearly lost wee bab and he came in and knocked him out in best ever fight it is the best ive ever seen

 

I didn't see any bias in the original post. It was a reasonable list, any list can be nitpicked to a greater or lesser degree.

For example, Wilder's draw with Fury can be lauded because no one else has a result against Fury in 34 fights, including ATG Wlad who lost by wide margins and did little damage. No one has come closer to knocking Fury out than Wilder in fight 1, it hinged on a referring decision. And while Fury may not have been in peak condition (this is impossible to know, though Fury clearly thought he was at least close enough to it to win) and objectively he was fighting away from home, Wilder probably underestimated Fury based on the layoff and comeback fights, so he had that psychological element to contend with. And given Fury's status, where Fury had come from and the narrative around the fight, the judges may have found it harder to rob him than they otherwise would have, so Wilder lacked the same level of A-side advantage he had vs everyone else.

The third fight was anything but "meaningless". Wilder is one of the most dangerous KO artists in heavyweight history, fighting in his backyard, against a Fury who came in less prepared (physically and psychologically) for several reasons, one being the fact that he'd dominated Wilder in fight 2. Wilder was fighting for his legacy and to regain the belt he'd held for 10 defences and 5 years. People make the excuse that Lewis underestimated the fringe contenders who KO'd him but it's clear Fury underestimated Wilder in the trilogy and still managed to find a way, even after being knocked down twice. Claiming that the trilogy fight is "meaningless" is either ignorant or a classic example of a biased take.

Joshua was seen as the second coming but Wig's position is that Joshua was extremely overhyped. He objectively was overhyped, how much you believe he was will partly determine how much credit you think Ruiz and Usyk deserve. Personally I think Usyk's wins were better because he demonstrated consistent control over Joshua over 12/24 rounds, even though Ruiz was far more destructive.

Given that Joyce's ex-trainer Abel Sanchez admitted that he kept Joyce away from a 40+ post-Wilder 1 Ortiz, I don't see why Joyce should be ranked above 30-0, sub-39 year old Ortiz as a win. Especially because they have a mutual opponent (Jennings), who Ortiz outboxed and stopped in 7 in America, while Joyce had a 50-50 with Jennings over 12 rounds in Britain. With neutral judges Parker would have likely lost the first Chisora fight and Ruiz (although dangerous if underestimated) proved to be on the same level as Parker and 43 year old 2 KO defeat Ortiz in those fights.

 

Usyk's 2nd win over Joshua has to be in there, also above Joshua's win over Wlad on that list. Joshua had a better gameplan in the rematch, was fighting for his legacy, the fight was contested during the Russo-Ukrainian war and Joshua only closed the gap by 1 round/2 points.

Joshua's win over Povetkin should figure in there, just below his win over Wlad imo. Povetkin was 21 months and four fights (including a war with Price) removed from one of his career best performances (1 day notice Duhaupas KO6) but he went on to beat Hughie in better fashion than Parker beat a green Hughie, draw with Hunter (who at his best would have probably beaten Parker and Whyte, certainly Ruiz) and KO Whyte, who beat Parker. So Povetkin demonstrably had a lot left in the tank when he fought Joshua, who stopped him in 7 (while not having the level of A-side advantage via the dodgy referee that he had vs Parker). And while Povetkin didn't show enough will to win at all costs vs Wlad and could be bullied, the same is true of Parker to a greater degree and Parker lacks Povetkin's power, offensive skill and killer instinct.

It's questionable whether wins over Parker and Ruiz are more valuable than a win over Whyte, especially in the manner that Fury did it (not taking a single meaningful punch over 6 rounds before one-shotting him). Personally I'd remove wins over Parker and Ruiz from consideration rather than include Whyte though.

 

Tysons won over Waldo is getting on for 10 year ago now. Let it go.

 

The best wins would be:

1. Deontay Wilder KO1 Audley Harrison
2. Hughie Fury TKO5 Sam Sexton (British Title)
3. Luis Ortiz UD Mallik Scott
4. Dustin Nichols TKO1 Deontay Wilder
5. Deontay Wilder TKO11 Johann Duhuapas
6. Deontay Wilder KO1 Mallik Scott
7. Derek Chisora TKO6 Mallik Scott
8. Tyson Fury TKO5 Sefer Seferi
9. Manuel Charr TKO7 Danny Williams
10. Johann Duhuapas MD Manual Charr

Honourable mentions:
Hughie Fury TKO2 Chris Norrad
Jarrell Miller TKO6 Lucas Browne