1) Fury 2) Joshua 3) Wilder 4) Sasha 5) Ortiz

I agree. The top 3 is all that matters and you have the right order

 

Pulev>Ortiz.

 

1.Fury
2.A.J
3.Wilder
4.Ortiz
5.White

 

fury vs AJ wilder vs whyte and Ortiz/povetkin vs parker... those 3 fights are what should happen. but I doubt it will.

 

AJ
Fury
Wilder
Pulev
Povektin
Ortiz
Whyte
Parker
Miller

In that order. I think AJ and Fury are the only two who can stand cleary above the rest while any matchup between everyone else would be fairly competitive. With the exception of Wilder/Pulev which stylistically favors Wilder.

 

1 Fury

 

AJ
Fury
Povetkin
Wilder
Whyte
Pulev
Ortiz
Parker
Miller

Fury would beat AJ
AJ would beat Wilder

Fury would beat Povetkin
Fury would beat Pulev
Fury would beat Whyte

AJ would beat Pulev
AJ would beat Whyte

Wilder vs Povetkin is 50/50
Wilder would beat Pulev
I would lean towards Whyte vs Wilder

Whyte vs Povetkin is 50/50 (lean towards Povetikin though)

Fury beats Ortiz easily (potentially sweeps every round)
AJ beats Ortiz easily and stops him by 6

 

Fury
Joshua
Wilder
Ortiz
Whyte

 

Out of interest, if Fury doesn't get up, or just misses the count, or referee waves it off in the 12th round, does that change your rankings?

 

For me

1) Joshua
2) Fury
3) Wilder
—————-
4) Whyte
——————

Top 3 pretty obvious. Joshua still the man to beat despite me being a Fury fan. Whyte is below them at 4, after that though there’s a cohort of guys and you could pick any of them to be number 5.. Ortiz, Povetkin possibly Miller etc.. people like Parker, Pulev slightly below that.

I think the fringe guys will have a shake up in 2019. We’ll see if the likes of Miller and Joyce can break into that second tier and rival Whyte.

Then again, Whyte could easily lose against Chisora which will make things interesting.

 

Povetkin was a great boxer in his prime, but his prime is gone. He's a shell of his former self. He no longer has any claim to be considered top 5. I fancy he'd be beaten now by most of the top 10 fighters with a few exceptions. Ortiz is tasty, he has a great deal of technical skill and he arguably throws the best combinations in the division right now. However, he's too lazy and indolent, he's too old and the slightest excitement causes him to punch himself out. It's a shame, because he has wonderful form.

I think, on balance, it's fair to say that Fury and Joshua are top of the heap, for different reasons, and until they fight each other we can't pick between them. Both have much more to their game than Wilder, who, as we all saw last night, is exceedingly limited. Wilder is an atrocious boxer, very little skill to show, almost tediously reliant on that right hand. He doesn't set that right hand up, he barely does anything when he's not using it; his filler is a highly telegraphed and redundant jab. The way he throws his right hand, I am very surprised he hasn't had more injuries to his shoulder and torso, a busted rotator cuff or torn oblique, because he has so little form that it almost defies belief he is able to stay intact. He will have a very short career at elite level, because something is bound to go. Yesterday was the start of his elite career.

I like Whyte, but I don't think he's top 5 material. He is far too open and gets wrecked by the next elite he faces. Parker is pathetically timid, but when he finally summoned the courage to go at Whyte in the 12th he very nearly smashed him to bits. I am not even sure Whyte gets through Chisora. If a motivated Chisora turns up, Whyte may well find his run derailed.

After Fury, Joshua and Wilder, I would have Miller and Pulev. Miller is an unnatural behemoth and the only way to stop him will be to comprehensively outbox him and make him look stupid, which only Fury could do, or to catch him with a thunderous punch that knock him out, a la Wilder. I cannot see Joshua knocking Miller out, but he would probably would beat him to a decision, especially if the fight was in the UK.

Pulev is a wildcard. He has considerable boxing ability. I don't see him beating any of the top 4, but he should handle all of the lower ranked fighters with relative ease. There's noone outside of that top 4 that I would fancy to knock Pulev out, not Povetkin, Whyte, Ortiz and certainly nobody beneath that level. I think he has the skill to decision everyone outside the top 4. You have to remember his only loss is to Wlad and that loss came partly by way of machismo of the kind that Eastern Europeans are liable to show under pressure. Outside of the Wlad fight, he has never come close to being wobbled.