It's amazing people were trying to boost Pulev as a top 3 HW

Fury seriously?! There was a reason Fury avoided him, and there was a reason Pulev was the bookies favorite.

I can think of at least 10 HW's that knock Fury out, starting with last night's version of Pulev.
Even Windmiller would knock Fury TFO

 

Fury accepted a Pulev fight. Had the Haye opportunity not arisen , the fight would of happened.

How is that avoiding Pulev?

 

As far as I remember it was about not enough money for the risk involved.

 

Don't criticise Wlad on these forums. Beating Pulev, Povetkin and Haye puts him in the top 5 EVER!, and any criticism of the great man will not be tolerated!

 

Great thread!

 

Chisora would beat Pulev as well.

 

Pulev too big lad for Fury.:yep

 

No reason why he shouldn't still be rated as a top 3 heavyweight in fact he's still rated 3rd by Boxrec. Yes he lost to Wlad but he's a good fighter, at least for this weak era.

Povetkin is the only fighter that you can clearly rank ahead of Pulev other than Wlad. He Takam who beat Thompson and Thompson has only ever lost to Wlad, Pulev and Takam.

Stiverne only beat Arreola a fighter who has lost every time he stepped up and who has never beat a top 20 fighter. Maybe you could rank Stiverne higher than Pulev but it's hard to looking at their resumes.

In terms of actual ability Pulev isn't anything special. I'd say he's worse than Golota at his best, probably on a similar level to Bruno or worse. But in this era that's enough to be a top 5 heavyweight. Too many unproven fighters in the top 10 right now to rank Pulev much lower than he really is.

 

Pulev is a top class operator

 

I disagree with this statement.

People can argue all they like about numbered ratings but there is no way on this Earth that Pulev could have been or can be considered "top class".

The fact this guy had a high rating is just further testament to the weakness of the Heavyweight division.

 

Certainly Pulev is a top 10 HW. He's a random HW contender, nothing overly special but pretty good at what he's doing. He just wasn't a tough challenge for Wlad, that's where public conception was completely off base.

 

Fury, Chisora or Stiverne next.

Wlad has been thoroughly dominant if not always the best in the division.

 

He's just a total dick.