How much of their prime version have the following HW`s left?

Ruiz's prime ended in 2019.
Wilder lost his years ago
As did Whyte
Joshua not in it anymore.

 

The prime of Andy Ruiz Jr. was four weeks prior to and up through beating Joshua in win that immediately ended his prime.

He had a four week prime.

 

None of them are in their prime at all. That’s why the heavyweight division is ripe for the picking at this point. At some point, someone truly talented is going to come along and just clean up the division and become the obvious number one. But for right now, none of the contenders have shown they can do that.

 

Usyk is mentally checked out, so is Fury. AJ, Wilder and Ruiz are shot. Whyte has been garbage since the dianabol incident 7 years ago, Hunter hasn’t been relevant since he drew with ancient Povetkin.

Parker though I think has several good fights left in him and deserves a shot at the Dubois/Wardley winner

 

Parker is 34 years old.

Would like to see him challenge Hrgovic, Dubois or Kabayel

 

I don’t know as much about Hunter but the rest are all quite old that’s the first part and the second part is that they’ve all come through some pretty brutal fights at certain points and faced consistent top level opposition in the worst division for it. So they’re on the downside of age and they’ve had successful but very hard careers. Certainly I don’t think any of them are above 70% being realistic. None of them are exactly at something stupid like 10% though. Ruiz has been a part timer since the Joshua win, inactivity and food messed him up a lot worse than the couple of wars he’s had.

 

Usyk - he has achieved everything he wanted, no longer motivated and is slower than he was
Fury - looked terrible against Wach, couldn't stop Makhmudov
AJ - clearly declined, very vulnerable now
Wilder - was never a top heavyweight, faded now, very vulnerable
Parker - probably still has a few good fights left in him
Ruiz - was never very good, one lucky punch against Joshua which AJ never recovered from during the fight.
Whyte - never any good without PEDs
Hunter - never a real contender at heavyweight, lost to Suslenkov last year

I would like to see some of those guys cash out against some prime or up-and-coming heavyweights: Teremoana, Itauma, Yallyev, Milas, Hovhannisyan, Edwards, Danier Pero, etc.

Kabayel-Parker would be a much more interesting fight than Kabayel-Hysa.

 

Parker is the only one left that can be relevant...

Fury-AJ and Usyk-Wilder are good swan song fights, but none should try to go on to do more.

Ruiz, Whyte and Hunter...just retire...although Ruiz- Whyte has an interesting ring to it.

 

I feel like Parker

has underperformed his potential

virtually his entire career.

No more of this - please!

 

One of the things that makes this so hard to track is most everyone in this division is past their prime. If a 36 YO is slowing down but is only fighting other 36 year olds(give or take) well how much does it matter? We have seen and will continue to see a lot of that.

Other than Dubois I don't think any of this group are in their prime. Parker and AJ's primes were the most recent. If everything goes well Parker might be able to string together another 5 years at the world level. The rest have less time than that. Historically the wheels tend to come off somewhere around 40-42.

 

40 is the cut off point, Usyk looked like crap in his last fight but looked great vs Dubois he's got far left than Wilder but is pushing his luck, AJ has zero punch resistance, Fury looked awful and out of shape in his last fight, he should have taken better care of his body, never thought Parker was never that good, Ruiz can't deal with a jab that long, Whyte is completely finished, I don't give a crap about Hunter, all of them should only fight boxers their age or above younger boxers will destroy them, Usyk is the best conditioned out of this lot and has the most left but that ain't saying much.

 

Prefer to see him fight the loser of Wardley vs Dubois.

 

I really hope he has a last good run. I don't want to preach a sermon, here but maybe this is how is was supposed to be. Instead of being a guy who is e-mailed a belt and becomes a notch in Usyk's belt--who really is the defining heavyweight fighter of the post Klitschko era--maybe he is destined to win his second belt in this "wild west" era and be a significant part of it. Again, not being preachy, but maybe god put those mountains in his life because there is a promised land for him after. Maybe Dubois wouldn't fight him because Parker is supposed to fight him now, when it matters. Or Hrgovic or Kabayel...or he could even pick up a belt from Gassiev and go on to a good unification fight.

 

Holy **** on a shingle! They're all past their primes, maybe Parker is closest out of that list. Sorry, can't do percentages, I failed algebra.

Usyk - Usyk’s prime is still in the building on the same floor, even the same hallway, but every time he shuffles over in that slick southpaw glide, the door swings shut a split second before his jab can hook the handle.

Fury - Fury’s prime is a ringside seat he can see from the concourse. It's close enough to read the number but far enough that every detour, retirement and comeback has added another flight of stairs between him and the aisle.

AJ - His prime is a front row banner hanging high in the rafters. AJ can point to it, talk about it, even train toward it, but the ladder keeps getting moved back a few more rows.

Wilder - Wilder’s prime is a neon sign on the edge of town. The Bronze Bomber can still make out the letters from the highway, but the exit’s long gone and the gas gauge is on empty.

Parker - He’s so close to his prime you can hear it breathing through the wall, but the door’s locked and he lost the key somewhere between rounds.

Ruiz jr - His prime is a firefly in a thunderstorm. Theoretically possible, practically invisible, and nobody’s sticking around to watch.

Whyte - His prime is a faint fingerprint on a black glove in a dark room. Forensics might pull something out with special lights, but to the naked eye it’s gone baby, gone.

Hunter jr - No comment.