Do you agree with The Ring's new heavyweight rankings?

I'd put Wilder ahead of AJ. I can also see Joyce beating AJ, but Joyce hasn't earned a higher ranking yet. I might even favor Yoka over AJ, but I rate Yoka much higher than most people.

I also don't rate Rivas, Ruiz, or even Hunter that highly.

 

Didn’t usyk dominate hunter though

 

Who did Fury and Wilder fight on this list apart from each other and old Ortiz? I thought Hrgovic would be in the mix.

These rankings are useless until Fury/Wilder fight Usyk/AJ. It is almost two separate divisions until then.

 

..or for who he prefers to fight.

 

Hunter drew with absolutely shot Povetkin.

 

Exactly. The king of the Teeball league should not get an automatic ranking in baseball.

 

Ortiz shouldn't even be on the list, neither should Joyce until they actually fight a live body.

I agree Parker seems a touch high given recent performances, but he did beat Ruiz so it makes sense that he's ranked above him.

 

I appreciate that.

 

XD

 

Parker number 5? For getting a lucky decision vs Chisora? What the.. **** is Rivas doing in there?

Mine -

1. Fury- Whooping Wilder and Wlad + no losses and obviously the best all round talent.

2. Usyk - Best all round P4P resume, but we should only count HW resume when deciding HW rankings. So that's why he's 2nd not 1st.

3. Joshua - Has beaten everyone is faced, except Usyk. 2 losses but everyone's resume below is a joke in comparison.

4. Wilder (Because he has Ortiz on his record as recently as dec 2019) - All the others below don't have a win that good as recently as that.

5. Whyte - Stacked enough resume to be above the rest. Was difficult to decide #5-6 but I'd say Whyte has kept himself more active against better opposition. Even though he lost vs Povetkin, he was clearly dominating him before hand, and at least won the rematch, even though it was an even poorer version of Povetkin.

6. Ruiz - He beat AJ, but since then has shown a lack of desire. Looked poor vs Arreola. If he's fully focused I think he could beat Whyte, but until he proves it, he doesn't deserve any higher.

7. Hunter - Draw vs Povetkin in 2019 was impressive, was arguable that he won 7-5, but some rounds were close. Not really much of a stacked HW resume to deserve higher. Ducked hrgovic proving he's not confident or doesn't care enough.

8. Joe Joyce - Takam and Dubois aren't top 10, but still decent opponents and it's recent and he's been active, and now a deserved mandatory.

9. Parker - Has skills, but got knocked down vs Chisora and didn't deserve a win. His calibre of opponent over the last 3 years has been a joke.

10. Ortiz - Too much inactivity to be considered higher. Last win was Christian Hammer in mar 2019. He was close with Wilder though. On the verge of retirement, looking for one last pay day and probably going to get brutally KO'd.

 

Funny thing is, because they have to be lenient with Fury, for his Ring belt, they can't do anything else but be lenient with Wilder as well.

Both haven't fought for over 1½ years (reason to strip the belt and be removed from the list), but both are signed to fight eachother later this year. That means that if they would remove Wilder, for not having Ring belt protected status, they would have to strip Fury anyway for not fighting a Ring rated fighter.

 

Man, the list gets thin after the first three. Joyce beats Parker, IMO. After three, it’s a crap shoot. I look forward to the Fury Wilder fight and the Usyk AJ rematch. I’ll be rooting for Fury and hope he fights the winner of the AJ Usyk rematch and doesn’t play games and hold the belts hostage.

The thing about Usyk I like is that he’s no nonsense, no diva drama or BS. He’s an old school fighter who will fight. As long as he’s healthy. A Wilder win over Fury, would make things interesting. If Usyk beats AJ in the rematch (still a tough fight) and Wilder fights Usyk, the contrast in styles will be interesting. If Fury wins, I don’t think he will fight Usyk. He will take three tuneups and make a million excuses about being too good or too A side. Probably offer a pittance and accuse the other fighter of ducking.

I like Fury, especially the current version but have a suspicion he’s not keen on fighting Usyk. He is more likely to fight AJ in England even if he has to drop the belt than take a chance with the smaller guy in a lower money fight. I’m a Fury fan and favor him in that fight but it would be a great technical display of boxing. Fury has been a little flaky in the past and I could easily see him ducking the lower money fight and go for the cash grab against AJ even if there are no belts involved and AJ is coming off two straight losses. Boxing is so corrupt, they will probably give him an avenue to do this.

 

Wilder has a theoretical chance to win, but it's based squarely on the dynamite potential in his right hand.

Given the emphasis you've placed on this notion of yours, that Malik Scott is guiding him back toward a pure boxing path he'd wandered away from as a result of becoming enchanted by his own power, is it fair to say that you're not vindicated unless Wilder outboxes Fury for the duration of this bout?

Or, if Wilder were to land a bomb to end the fight after having his ears boxed off for several rounds, would you return to claim your bragging rights just the same?

To clarify, I have no expectation of the latter scenario coming to pass. Wilder would have to land his very best shot more sweetly than he's ever landed it; Fury has the experience of sharing nineteen rounds with Wilder and won't be careless enough to allow him the kind of pure connect he needs. But it remains a theoretically likelier scenario than Wilder succeeding in stacking up rounds behind his jab en route to a decision or some kind of stoppage victory.

I'm just trying to attain clarity as to what exactly it is you're expecting Wilder to do in this fight.

 

Fury has very recently clarified, once Wilder is out of the way, he's ready to do business with whoever the top guys are supposed to be, be that Usyk or whoever else.

Anthony Joshua appears to have activated his option for a rematch with Usyk. In that event, Usyk would not be free to face Fury next, and it would make sense for Fury to defend his title from Dillian Whyte's challenge (a matter that the WBC are apparently going to enforce, anyway), though this would depend on Whyte getting past a sturdy obstacle named Otto Wallin.