Tyson Fury > Wlad Klitschko

39 Wlad (UD away) Germany and Wilder 2 (TKO7 away) are better wins than any on Wlad's record. Wlad was never winning fighter of the year by backhumping Povetkin for 12 rounds.

I'd argue that Fury at his best was better than Wlad at his best and a harder man to beat, especially without A-side advantage. Wlad was much more consistent and disciplined than Fury but not as good. Fury's had sh*t fights, going life and death with lesser opponents but he always found a way to survive and do just enough. I also find it disgusting when a "great fighter" snatches defeat from the jaws of victory and then says "I won by losing". But these things are subjective.

My argument isn't based on a list of decent opponents beaten, otherwise Wlad would be universally regarded as far superior to Vitali but this isn't the case, to put it mildly.

Wins:

Byrd 1 (UD12)
McCline (RTD10)
Williamson (STD5)
Peter 1 (UD12)
Brock (TKO7)
Ibragimov (UD12)
Thompson 1 (KO11)
Chagaev (RTD9)
Chambers (KO12)
Haye (UD12)
Povetkin (UD12)
Pulev (KO5)
Jennings (UD12)

Losses:

Puritty (TKO11)
Sanders (TKO2)
Brewster 1 (TKO5)
Fury (UD12)
Joshua (TKO11)

13-5

It's very questionable whether Wlad would've beaten Williamson, Peter 1 or Povetkin without help from the referees, any of the three could have been another stoppage loss.

 

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Being in top condition with Emanuel Steward in your corner, getting knocked down three times by Peter and grappling almost as much as he did in the Povetkin fight to a 114-111 decision isn't the stuff of greatness.

18-0 isn't many pro fights, especially when your best opponent by a clear margin is a similarly green Whyte. Wlad had been the full 12 rounds on 8 occasions, Joshua hadn't been past the 7th once. Wlad had been a big event fighter arguably since the 1990's. Joshua was new to this, certainly to an event of that magnitude. When the green fighter starts gassing badly after 5 rounds and gets dropped in the 6th by the vastly more experienced "great", the great is supposed to close the show (as Ruiz and Dubois did), not choke for 5 rounds and get stopped.

Joshua would have a puncher's chance against 35 year old Wlad, though I'd favour Wlad. But the problem with alternative reality hypotheticals is we know Wlad got TKO'd by a green Joshua in actual reality. Perhaps if Joshua had been less green, he'd have won more easily or beaten better versions of Wlad etc. In any case, it turned out to be a significant stain on his record. Any version of Wlad may have an opponent for the taking and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory because he was overcautious by temperament, even when he had every reason not to be (Joshua badly hurt, demoralised and gassed, possibility that Joshua could recover and stop him, probability of an A-side robbery in London).

 

"Wlad's Hollywood tart of a wife was feeling sad, that's why he lost"

This is a "grown man" writing, apparently. If Wlad asked you to top him off you'd drop to your knees.

"instead of winning a boring, nothingburger of a fight."

It's more entertaining than the majority of Wlad's defences, many of which were hybrid box-wrestling matches.

 

On title defence stats or "top 10 opponents fought/beaten", Wlad is going to automatically register as one of the few greatest HW champions ever. My feelings and beliefs here go beyond how many contenders Wlad beat on paper.

I don't think he's as good as Fury, just as many if not most think Wlad isn't as good as Vitali or Bowe. I think Fury showed a higher level at his best (Chisora 2, Wlad, Wilder 2) and was less beatable (at least when he took fights seriously), hence he never had a Puritty/Sanders/Brewster fight, despite often being out of shape, overconfident and unmotivated, and he didn't require the same level of A-side bias (or any) to make his style work.

I was disgusted by Wlad's loss to a green Joshua: Joshua being badly hurt, gassed, demoralised, just been dropped hard in round 6, Wlad chokes for 5 rounds and gets stopped, despite the risk of Joshua recovering to stop him or a London robbery. Ruiz and Dubois then do what he couldn't.