Rank your top 15 heavies of the Post-Klitschko years as they would appear right now

1. Usyk
2. Fury
3. Joshua
4. Dubois
5. Wilder
6. Parker
7. Kabayel
8. Whyte
9. Joyce
10. Ruiz
11. Hrgović
12. Zhang
13. Povetkin
14. Ortiz
15. Chisora

 

Usyk
Joshua
Fury
Wilder
Parker
Dubois
Povetkin
Ruiz
Whyte
Kabayel
Wardley
Hrgovic
Pulev
Ortiz
Zhang

 

I am surprised Dubois isn't rated higher.
Outside of Usyk, I can't think of another HW who has taken as many tough fights in succession

Usyk undefeated
Miller undefeated
Hrgovic undefeated
Joshua
Usyk undefeated
Wardley undefeated

That's a tough run


Then consider he has also fought
Bryan undefeated WBA regular champion
Joyce undefeated
Gorman undefeated

 

Usyk
Fury
Dubois
Wilder
Joshua
Parker
Kabayel
Hrgovic
Ortiz
Zhang
Chisora
Whyte
Ruiz
Joyce
Wardley

Tough picking between Wilder & Joshua for 4/5. Wilder is better h2h and ultimately went on to take bigger risks in his career. The Chisora twilight win is actually very good. Joshua took less risk, showed less heart, but has the bigger, albeit far faded names.

 

Parker should have got 10, not 19, and Wilder's score adds to 101.

 

This is a brainless take.

AJ took less risks? He fought his first Top 10 guy in his 16th fight, after over 2 years of being a pro. Wilder fought his first Top 10 guy in his 33 fight, after 6 years of being a pro. In his 16th fight he faced Reggie Pena.

AJ fought Wladimir Klitschko in his 19th fight after over 3 years of being a pro. The next real challenge Wilder faced after Stiverne was Luis Ortiz - in his 40th fight and after 9 years of being a pro. Risk comparable to fighting Povetkin in AJ's 22nd fight, 5 years into his pro career. Wilder fought Daniel Cota and Jesse Oltmanns in his 19th and 22nd fight respectively.

The best fighter Wilder faced was Fury and he only took him because Belly was coming back from his cocaine binge, so he thought it would be easy. Not that big of a risk.

Wilder waiting for the WBC belt to be vacant instead of calling out then WBC title holder Vitali Klitschko is not much of a risk either. Wilder's camp saying he's just a kid who won a world title to steer him away from Wlad is an opposite of taking a risk - it's playing it safe.

AJ clearly took bigger risks, way earlier in his career. Matter of fact, he was fast tracked and took big challengers earlier than even most of the HW greats. He also beat better guys (Wlad, Parker & Pov > Ortiz & Stiverne), so he's better H2H.

 

Actually, yours is a brainless take.

Tyson Fury was the RING Heavyweight Champion when 2018 began, and Tyson Fury was coming off two wins in 2018 (not a cocaine binge - you're thinking of when Usyk fought Fury) when Deontay Wilder successfully defended his title for the eighth time ... THE FIRST TIME Wilder defended against Fury.

Tyson Fury was the RING #1 contender and he and Wilder fought for the RING championship when ... Wilder DEFENDED AGAINST TYSON FURY THE SECOND TIME ... in Wilder's 11th title defense.

Deontay Wilder didn't fight for the VACANT WBC Title. Deontay Wilder won the WBC Heavyweight Title from the reigning WBC Champ Bermane Stiverne. Stiverne, Vitali's mandatory, won the vacant title after Vitali retired rather than facing Stiverne. https://www.espn.com/boxing/story/_...schko-talks-fight-challenger-bermane-stiverne

Deontay Wilder has fought 17 times against ranked heavyweight contenders. That's the same number as Joshua has faced.

It'll be 18 for Wilder if he faces Usyk next.

If Wilder's next fight is against Usyk, Joshua won't have any remaining argument that he's faced more or better fighters than Wilder.

Tyson Fury was better than Wlad. Fury beat Wlad before Joshua did. Joshua has yet to face Fury. Wilder fought Fury three times. Floored him four. Engaged in two Fight of the Year candidates with him.

Hell, Wilder has five fights with Fury and Ortiz alone ... two guys Joshua never faced in the ring. Not to mention Zhang, Chisora, Arreola, and any number of guys Joshua would've had problems with. Hell, Joshua won't even fight Zhang and Chisora now. And they're in their 40s.

Instead, Joshua has been fighting Youtubers like Jake Paul and some clown next who nobody ever heard of when the fight was announced.

I thought Joshua and Hearn said earlier this year they were going to fight Wilder as a tuneup for Fury? Now, Wilder's too dangerous.

Whatever edge Joshua had over Wilder in terms of quality of opposition has EVAPORATED over the years. Wilder is finishing stronger. Everyone can see that.

 

Well, it wasn't more risky than facing Wladimir Klitschko in the 19th fight after over 3 years of being a pro. And Fury was stripped by The Ring in the beginning of 2018 cause he didn't fight for over 2 years.

Nobody said he fought for the vacant WBC belt. Just that he never called out Vitali when he was in the Top 15 of the WBC rankings. Which would be risky. But he played it safe and fought Stiverne who was a weak paper champion. Just like Martin was. But AJ faced Martin in his 16th fight, Wilder faced Stiverne in his 33rd fight. Clearly, AJ and his camp took bigger risk here.

Nope. Wilder fought 8 times against Top 10 ranked opposition, having only 3 wins over them. AJ has 5 wins against Top 10 opposition, having beaten better fighters. Again - way more risky on the particular stages of their career.

If AJ faces Fury then the argument is still there.

2018 version of Fury wasn't better than 2017 version of Wlad. 2020 and 2021 sure. But the point is, AJ faced Wlad in his 19th fight, Wilder faced Fury in his 41st fight. AJ again took a bigger risk.

Yeah, facing the same guy 3 times and a same guy 2 times is all that Wilder can claim at this point. AJ beat Zhang in the amateurs, with no problems. Arreola and Chisora would pose no problems to AJ who beat way better guys than them. And AJ faced Dubois who's better than all of them except Fury. Also, Povetkin and Parker are better than any boxer Wilder defeated in his career.

Jake Paul and Pringles would probably beat Terrell Herndon who Wilder faced not that long ago.

Nah, AJ still faced better opposition. And it's saying something considering that he didn't face any top fighters from 2023 until now except for Dubois.

 

Fella, you are a die hard fanboy. Try to zoom out and gain some perspective.

Wilder's later career is still part of his career. Signing to fight Povetkin in Russia, the Fury rematch, demanding the insane third match with Fury after getting his ass beat, these are all massive risks. Facing a hot-streak Parker, a wrecking machine Zhang, and a still game Chisora later in his career are also massive, massive risks. "Boogeyman" Ortiz twice doesn't hurt either.

In comparison, Joshua's first real risk is a 41 year old, two years inactive challenger Vlad who is coming off a loss. Big risk, but highly calculated. Same with 39 year old Povetkin. Parker and Dubois stand out as the biggest risks of Joshua's career. The Usyk bouts were forced and Usyk wasn't seen as the threat he later became.

Wilder is finishing much stronger. Joshua fans seem to think it's still 2018 and he just stopped 39 year old Povetkin. Jake Paul, Ngannou, Wallin, Helenius, Franklin...these are the wins of this decade. Show me the risk.

 

1. Usyk
2. Fury
3. Dubios
4. Parker
5. Wilder
6. Joshua
7. Kabayel
8. Zhang
9. Ruiz
10. Joyce
11. Chisora
12. Hrgović
13. Povetkin
14. Ortiz
15. Whyte

 

I would have never expected you to put dubois so high. Since you don't seem to like him - respect for not letting it bias you