Ukranian HW GOAT

Wlad dominated the division for a decade, barely losing a round in the process.

 

In terms of greatness its Wlad, and its not even close

H2H you can make an argument for any of them

 

I think Vitali likely beats the others but Wlad is the greatest Ukranian heavyweight....

 

Wlad, Usyk, Vitali, in that order. Prime Wlad has one of the best and most dominant reigns not only at HW but in all of boxing history combined with one of boxing's best jabs. I like Usyk a lot but Wlad is greater thanks to how much more time he spent at the weight and because of his distinguished reign.

 

Against who, though?

It used to be that it was accepted the boxing came down to who you beat. I think that changed when people started hyping guys like Holmes and WladKlit, who had long reigns, but the really impressive wins are hard to find.

I go with Uysk. Wlad has some good wins on his record, but he dwarfed his best opponents- Byrd, Haye, Porvekin, Ibragmiov, Chagaev, maybe Peter in is in there. Usyk is the other way around--a true giant killer who is now routinely beating some of the best big men to do it.

 

He stopped careers in their tracks. He erased potential. What could have been was unburdened by Wlad's arsenal. Brock, Ibragimov, Chagaev, Povetkin, Haye... all supremely talented and defused by Doctor Iron Fist Hammer Welt!

 

Yes but he was massive compared to them. that big, physical guy who could really push him never came along.

 

It's an interesting question.
Personally, I have never rated Wlad as highly as some. Yes, he bounced back very well. But seeing him completely implode three times against Purrity, Sanders and Brewster - when he was being touted as the next big thing - severely damaged his credentials IMO. I probably have him around 20 ATG. As I say, he deserves massive credit for reinventing himself and going on the run many thought he was capable of initially, but I don't rate much of his competition. I think he fell between two talented eras... the 90s and the 2015 era. He fell apart in one of them - and was too old for the other.
But he does have incredible longevity. It was a weak era but he dominated it. And you can't do any more than that.
I think Usyk is a better fighter P4P. And his condensed resume already has more quality wins than Wlad's. But he doesn't have much of a variety of names, or years under his belt at the weight.
Vitali I think, again, suffers from the quality of opposition, without the length of reign that his brother had (impressive as his comeback was after a long layoff).
I think, slightly reluctantly, I'd place Wlad top, in terms of overall heavyweight run. Only because of the length of it and number of defenses. And I'd have Usyk top P4P. But it wouldn't take many more wins at the weight for me to put Usyk first.

 

Interesting that Wlad fought a lot of big guys actually. But they just weren't on his level. Derrick Jefferson was 6'6" 260 lbs in-shape guy and big, big puncher, but he lacked skills and was poor defensively. Ray Austin was another one huge 6'6" guy, but also not very skilled. Mariusz Wach was 6'8" but had nothing aside of granite chin. Pianeta was 6'5", but feather-fisted and not very talented. Tony Thompson was decent - 6'5" southpaw with good workrate and awkward style. But he wasn't a big puncher and you have to be one to bother Wlad (unless you are Tyson Fury). I think the best giant whom Wlad has beaten was Jameel McCline. At 6'6" and 270 lbs he was huge, huge guy. And he came in that fight on the very good run, demolishing Michael Grant in the few seconds, schooling Shannon Briggs and beating Lance Whitaker. But McCline had loser's mentality and, like Golota, while being gifted physically, always found the way to lose big fights. Remember how he lost to Byrd, Brock and Peter despite knocking each of them down?

So yes, Wlad lacked equally talented big (6'5" and taller) guys in his resume. Lewis had the same problem but he at least had old Tucker at the beginning of his run and Vitali at the very end of it.

In Joshua fight Wlad, however, has proven he could be very competitive against top-level young giant while being well past him prime at 41. It's bad he didn't have that type of challenges in his prime

 

Usyk is probably number 1 overall, but when it comes to heavyweight, he is definitely behind Wlad and Vitalij, in my opinion too. In general, Ukraine probably has the best boxers when it comes to Europe, maybe apart from the UK, but we have to count the last 30 years because it is a young country. Loma, Usyk, Klitchkos, Derevyachenko, Chyzniak.. outstanding at the Olympics and in the pros (apart from the last one, but he has not finished his career yet).

 

You said it exactly right. His best wins were diminutive guys compared to him. I like the giant-killer Usyk.

 

It's interesting that his two most notable losses came against guys who had some size advantage on him. Granted, they also had age advantages at that point.

We of course know what Usyk did to those two same guys with a much more pronounced size disadvantage.

 

Interesting reading here. I rate on accomplishments so have to pick Wlad, but the points against him are legitimate, & Usyk could have a case looking at it from Catch’s perspective.

As always, Vitali sucks, though.