Well, that's it, all the way from 1880 to 2019. I hope I'm around to do 2020-29! It's been fun. This last decade has a very tight top 10, the hardest to separate for me. Remember it is for fights in the decade only and the performances in them. It is not a list of who I think were the best fighters of the decade but rather whose performances were the best. I might think Wilder, Vitali, Fury, Wlad, or Joshua was the best but I want to compare just what the did in the decade. As usual, I invite criticism, opinion, and especially in this decade, names I might have overlooked, duplications etc. I'm very open to adjusting these ranking if I get a good argument; 1 joshua 2 fury 3 wlad 4 wilder 5 whyte 6 vitali 7 povetkin 8 parker 9 A.Ruiz 10 pulev 11 ortiz 12 haye 13 hunter 14 miller 15 kownacki 16 jennings 17 glaskov 18 joyce 19 chisora 20 helenius 21 hammer 22 washington 23 szpilka 24 takam 25 perez 26 breazeale 27 charr 28 stiverne 29 adamek 30 duhaupas 31 thompson 32 H.Fury 33 wach 34 teper 35 bredis 36 bellew 37 kabayel 38 rivas 39 mitchell 40 kuzmin 41 price 42 arreola 43 molina 44 milas 45 yoka 46 wallin 47 martin 48 dimitrenko 49 cunningham 50 mansour
Wlad should also be the number one for this decade. Clearly over Fury. The gap in competition is just too great. Wlad went 11-2 and defeated number 1 contenders and undefeated guys Povetkin and Pulev. Number 2 Haye and a host of other solid defenses. Fury beat Wlad disappeared and returned against mostly soft opposition. Joshua mostly defeated diminished versions of guys Wlad already defeated.
Here's mine. 1. Tyson Fury 2. Anthony Joshua 3. Wladimir Klitschko 4. Deontay Wilder 5. Andy Ruiz Jr. 6. Alexander Povetkin 7. Dillian Whyte 8. Vitali Klitshko 9. Joseph Parker 10. Kubrat Pulev 11. Dereck Chisora The same top 10, with some minor differences. I have Chisora quite a bit higher. Like with some other fighters We discussed while debating the previous decade, I don't punish him for his lossess and He was one of the most active, competitive Heavyweights of this decade. I know You look at it a bit differently though. Looking far beyond top 10 would be very difficult for me - so great job, once again.
Heres my thoughts Overrated Whyte Kownacki, Glazkow, Helenius Hammer Charr Stiverne Teper Breidis Kuzmin David Price Molina Arreola Mansour Underrated Luis Ortiz Jennings Breazeale Thompson Kabayel Rivas Wallin Charles Martin A Little Overrated Hunter Miller Washington Szpilka Takam Perez Adamek Duhaupus Wach Bellew Other thoughts First off I think Wlad should be above Fury and Joshua regardless of the H2H. I consider the Fury and AJ fights to be moral victorys of sorts for Wlad where people left those fights thinking an earlier version of Wlad would have won. Malik Scott is the big name missing who should be here. He had a draw with Glazkow who you ranked 17th and was up on Chisora who you have 20th. Scotts a guy who was a true elite boxer his chin was just as bad as it gets for a HW who got as far as him. On my overrated list after I would probably leave everyone after Charr outside the top 50. Fighters I'd consider putting in those 8 spots instead(besides Scott)would be the following. Solis Zhang(he was 20-0 before the 2020s) Chambers Pianeta Tom Schwarz Leapai Lucas Browne Cojanu Franklin Forrest Seferi Rydell Booker Fedosov Ustinov
1- Vitali Klitschko 2- Tyson Fury 3- Wladimir Klitschko 4- Joshua 5- Andy Ruiz Jr 6- Deontay Wilder 7- Povetkin / Zhilei Zhang 8- Ruslan Chagaev 9- Joseph Parker / Luis Ortiz 10- David Haye 11- Robert Helenius 12- Kubrat Pulev 13- Dereck Chisora 14- Daniel Dubois / Jarrell Miller 15- Joe Joyce / Agit Kabayel 16- Carlos Takam 17- Eddie Chambers 18- Oscar Rivas / Dillian Whyte 20- Adam Kownacki / Johann Duhaupas 21- Marco Huck / Mike Perez 22- Bermane Stiverne / Samuel Peter 23- Gerald Washington / Chris Arreola 24- Charles Martin / Manuel Charr 25- Mariusz Wach 26- Filip Hrgovic 27- Magomed Abdusalamov 28- Erkan Teper / Tomasz Adamek 29- Efe Ajagba 30- Christian Hammer / Francesco Pianeta 31- Tony Thompson 32- Denis Boytsov 33- Alexander Dimitrenko 34- Luan Krasniqi 35- Guido Vianello 36- Vyacheslav Glazkov 37- Magomed Abdusalamov 38- Albert Sosnowski 39- Dominic Breazeale / Jermaine Franklin 40- Michael Hunter 41- Arslanbek Makhmudov 42- Jared Anderson 43- Ivan Dychko 44- Tony Yoka 45- Ali Eren Demirezen 46- Erik Pfeifer 47- David Allen 48- Trevor Bryan 49- Cassius Chaney 49- Jonathan Rice 50- Lucas Browne / Jonathan Guidry
This is very much a work in progress. To give an example, I did this list at lunctime at work yesterday, forgot to bring it home and did the list you see posted above! The first list is below! Malik Scott was in this one and a different top two so this list if pretty fluid. Keep the comments coming and I will take them on board and give a final top 50. Fury Joshua Wlad wilder whyte vitali ruiz parker povetkin pulev haye chisora ortiz hunter joyce miller glazkov jennings wach charr helenius adamek kownacki takam kabayel stiverne szpilka washington perez breazeale arreola yoka dimitrinko scott thompson hammer rivas teper duhaupas mansour browne chagaev bredis h.fury kuzmin price milas wallin mitchell martin
Looking beyond top 10 now. - I think Bellew is a bit high, considering He only beat a crippled David Haye as a Heavyweight. - Mahmoud Charr - I'd have him way lower(If in top 50 at all). He was well-managed, but He never beat anyone even on a good European level. Stiverne and Adamek I think outdid him with Arreola wins alone. - Maybe Ajagba could make it somewhere at the bottom? @Macedoine62 mentioned him. Demirezen was a decent win. - I agree with @HistoryZero26 - Scott I think did enough to be there.
LOL. One of the worst takes I've seen. He only beat 1 Top 10 fighter in the 2010's. No he doesn't. Chris Byrd has a better case in 00's than Vitali.
Wlad is a clear number 1 for the decade. Fury hadn’t beaten Wilder yet. it should be 1. Wlad 2. Fury 3. Wilder 4. Joshua Joshua had lost to Ruiz already and was fighting a lot of Wlad’s leftovers.
In the meanwhile Wilder wasn't fighting anybody of significance, except for Stiverne and Ortiz. AJ beating Wlad, Povetkin and Parker tops him easily.