AJ does not belong in the top 10. He has not fought since getting smashed by Dubois last September, and likely won't fight again until this fall. Only in boxing can you lose badly, take a year off, and be hailed as a top member of your sport. His vaunted "resume" is filled with shot fighters who are 39-41 years old, with big fat Andy Ruiz, and an MMA fighter. . .AJ is an utter hoax.
Mostly a good list but I can't agree with Hrgovic. It has been more than a year since he has won a fight, and I see no signs he actually intends to come back. How long is he going to milk an either-way against Zhang? Fury has said he is retired, and yeah, he also has not had a legit win in two years. AJ is similar but is just about at the year mark for a win, and as you said, Rummy, he does have one of the best overall resumes today. He's got a little longer to get it together. Take out Fury and Hrgovic and replace with Chisora and Huni, and it would be about right.
Everyone not in agreement should post their own list. I am not happy with hrgovic and joshua on a top ten list either, but heavyweight is just not the greatest right now outside the top 5-6. Whom would you guys pick instead? For me it would be something like this: 1 usyk 2-5 dubois, kabayel, parker, fury (assuming him active) 6-7 zhang, bakole (assuming him having trained) 8-10 joshua, hrgovic, chisora Hard to do a more exact list right now with so many questionmarks and fighters fighting so infrequently. This list is based off recent accolades as well as the eye test and an assumed head to head. Considering wardle I think itauma would pretty clearly beat wardley. But I think Itauma is not ready for 12 rounds with an experienced fighter of thr top ten, so both are out for me. I would pick zhang and bakole over joshua, ajagba etc. Zhang has lost reputation for his fight against kabayel, but I think that is rather an achievement of kabayel than zhangs weykness. He always had stamina issues and it did not stop him from almost stopping and almost getting the points win against parker. And bakole has lost to a freak shot that parker never intended to land that way being totally untrained and jet lagged. Everyone kicking him out of the top ten for that does not seem warranted to me. People should check new information for what it actually tells them that is new. New info: bakole does not train in between camps. That has probably always been so and still he went on to destroy Anderson etc which made everyone put him in the top ten. Putting e.g. wardley in front of him after that weird loss against parker seems wrong to me. Who would put money on wardley in that fight? Same idea applies to chisora - there is no new information since his nice win against wallin, and to me he would be favorite in the hypothetical wardley matchup. Joshua on the other hand in these lists always profits off the memories of the destroyer he seemed to be in his earlier carreer. People have to let go of that memory. The joshua that fought against klitschko and whyte is gone. He lost his aggression with his true confidence. He now seems like he is depending on sports psychologists and the like to get him to a state of fighting. If he was 100% mentally I think he would be top 5. But he wasn't going into the Dubois fight and I don't expect it anymore. I would not anymore rate fury above parker, kabayel and dubois before I see him fight and win against their caliber. He's been out the game since the usyk fight and who knows in what shape he comes back for his moneypot against joshua as is to be expected. His feet have slowed and like Joshua people have his best Version in mind when they contemplate his top ten standing. Worse than with joshua they combine his best versions - the destroyer from wilder 2 and the fleet footed master boxer from the klitschko fight. Somehow his power seems magically gone though since he could not trouble usyk too much even if usyk has a really good chin. And with his now slower feet he would not be able to dance around kabayel or dubois for the whole fight. Sadly we won't see kabayel or parker fight fury since both have expressed gratitude and friendship towards him. Since I am new here and now have the chance to say it personally: thank you @Rumsfeld for your contribution to the sport on YouTube. Your videos have accompanied my way into the sport around the time ward fought kovalev and when considerably less channels and videos concerned with boxing where available. I think you have always been a solid voice of reason that gives context and orientation to viewers new to the sport and also gives a nice opportunity for hardcore fans to recap fights and contemplate the state of boxing. That is a great service to the sport and I think you are bringing lots of new people to boxing.
This is pretty much how I see it, the main debatable ones are the bottom of the top 10 which like Rummy said are pretty swappable. Joshua still has the second most wins of any active heavyweight atm, and in this current climate taking that long of a break seems the norm. Usyk himself is looking to take nearly a year off even with mandatories queuing. Hrgovic is fighting Joyce shortly so its fair to start ranking him again. It's good to see the heavyweight division continuing to move, with the figgts coming up, even if the champs currently don't have fights lined up.
I believe the big name missing from that list is Chisora. Chisora has had a lengthy career and he has been fighting almost everybody that matters or mattered. And his most recent win against faded Joyce is still a better opponent then Wardley or Ajagba have ever faced. I would actually like fighters like Wardley and Ajagba to fight Chisora to see what they are really made of. Honestly even against Bakole and Hrgovic I would not straight out dismiss Chisora’s chances.
You know you have an AJ obsession, when you're saying he doesn't belong on the list, where there is Efe Ajagba and Fabio Wardley, lol.
Congrats Rummy! Great to see you become a part of the bible of boxing after accompanying your journey here for a decade.
