Wladimir Klitschko’s best win: Alexander povetkin, David Haye, and Chris Byrd

Well all three of those guys are lucky a

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wasn't around back then. He'd have put the "orange" back into "champion"

 

Okay, we're back to sanity, at least.

 

Povetkin most likely, given that he was undefeated, fighting in front of his home crowd and was most likely juiced to the gills. All 3 really aren't that great, though; there's no A-grade win in there.

 

Ibragimov beats all of them, tbf. It's just that he had the least entertaining match with Wlad that colours everyone's judgment about him. Truthfully, he was always the third best of the era.

 

If they're not grade A wins I would say they are pretty darn close. As you stated Povetkin was undefeated, at home In Russia, may or may have not been juiced and went on Post Wlad, to put together a pretty stellar run in the division to earn a second crack at the title against the then heir apparent Joshua. Alexander post Wlad defeated the highly touted Cuban, Mike Perez in a single round in a high profile HBO bout, he also scored a one shot KO of Ring number 1 contender Dillian Whyte and beat a slew of mid range contenders in between those bouts.
As for Byrd , he was coming off a win against Vitali, in a more competitive bout than most remember, most people just remember Vitali's injury but the later rounds were competitive, then post the loss to Wlad in which Wlad dominated, Byrd went on to easily beat David Tua, easily best Evander Holyfield, and hold a still somewhat viable Golota to a draw. He also beat top 10 Jameel Mccline and the hard punching Davaryl WIllamson. therefore earning a post prime second shot at Wlad. Wlad dominated Byrd even more than the first fight.
Haye was dangerous opponent I wouldn't say it's an A win, and his body broke down almost immediately post Wlad, but his talent was undeniable. He destroyed Chisora, Derek to me has always been a tad overrated but nobody beat him like Haye.
I may replace him as the 3rd option with Ibrigamov, who was really good but packed it in and retired immediately post Wlad. He easily handled Briggs and beat a post prime Holy fairly easily as well and was a southpaw with solid mobilty.
Wlad's resume lacks the name cache of some past HW greats but he fought a lot of big athletic fighters at their peak. People forget that Castillo beat Michael Moorer for a crack at Wlad and he got wiped out in 4 rounds, and had Holyfield defeated Ibrigamov, he would of gotten a shot at Wlad and Wlad dominated Sultan 12-0. Klitschko KO's that version of Holyfield and Moorer quickly. I think some on these boards would be more satisfied had Wlad Ko'd Evander and Moorer rather than actually beating the better fighters of the time that bested them.

 

Yep, prime Povetkin was definitely the best opponent. But I actually think Sultan was pretty damn close! Would’ve been a real good scrap between Alexander and Ibragimov!

I always thought the Chagaev TKO was damn impressive too. One of his top wins. Chagaev during that time was top notch.

 

What's an A-grade win then if Byrd who beat Vitali and Tua isn't. Is Tua an A-grade win for Lewis? Povetkin isn't an A-grade win if he was Top 3 for 7 years, beat multiple Top 10 contenders and only lost to Klitschko and AJ before he hit 40? Chagaev who beat Ruiz and Valuev isn't an A-grade win?

 

Too bad he was running away the whole fight.

 

Yeah, Chagaev was decent, but not that great in the grand scheme of things. He gets overrated on here. I'm not a fan of any heavyweights in that post-Lewis era, really. Beating Ruiz and Valuev isn't particularly notable for me, either. Ruiz got blown away by Tua in 1 round, and Valuev was very limited.

You could argue Tua is a grade-A win for Lewis, but I've seen people argue otherwise, saying Tua was too one-dimensional to be labelled a genuinely elite fighter. Povetkin also got lucky against Huck, I think. I am not sold on Povetkin being that elite in HW history rankings; the reason it's such a good win, in my opinion, is that he demolished him in his backyard, and was undefeated and likely juicing. Full credit to Wlad for that one.

Byrd was probably the most underrated HW of that era, all things considered, but he still got flatlined by Ibeabuchi. I had him losing to Vitali until he pulled out with an injury, so I don't know; it's not as black and white, I think. The Tua win was solid, though, yes. Chris also had to travel to Germany to fight Wlad, so the odds were stacked against him. That's why I'd have that as the number 2 win.

 

I agree with most of this, really. They are close to grade A wins. Wlad didn't avoid anyone, and his stint from 2005 to 2013 was pretty much flawless, but the competition was also limited, which is why I don't rank them as grade-A wins. It was a very poor era, in my view. Povetkin was decent, but he should've lost to Huck, and he was getting beaten pretty easily by Whyte until he knocked him out. He was miles behind on the cards and got dropped twice, but he was also 40 at the time.

The Byrd vs Vitali fight isn't as one-sided as people make out, but Vitali was pretty much cruising to a decision win before the injury. Byrd was too negative in that fight, especially in the first half of it. Holyfield was also past it when he got beaten by Byrd, but I am a fan of Chris and think he's underrated. I just rate the Povetkin win higher because Wlad poleaxed him in his backyard, was undefeated, and probably juicing, whereas Byrd already had a KO loss on his record and fought Wlad in Germany, which was essentially Wlad's backyard given how often he fought there. Agreed on Haye, and I agree Wlad would've stopped those versions of Evander and Moorer.

 

So what's an A-grade win in your opinion? To me, A-grades are proven, top contenders of the particular era, sometimes title holders. One spot below S-grade, which would be an ATG. Only 1 ATG boxed in Wlad's era and it was his brother. So Wlad clearly doesn't have an S-grade win on his resume. If I had to slice it into A, B and C grade wins, it would look something like this:

A-grade: Chris Byrd, Ruslan Chagaev, Alexander Povetkin
Somewhere in-between A and B-grade: David Haye
B-grade: Samuel Peter, Sultan Ibragimov, Eddie Chambers, Kubrat Pulev
C-grade: Ray Mercer, Jameel McCline, DaVarryl Williamson, Lamon Brewster, Tony Thompson, Bryant Jennings

Looking at it historically, I would argue his A and B grade wins would be Top 5-10 contenders in any era.

 

Chagaev was past prime for Wlad and hadn't looked good in tune up fights. I think he had to come back from hepatitis and a knee injury. Ibragimov and Hayw were easily more highly regarded and both had titles.