Who were Wlad's three best opponents?

Wonder how many people who put Povetkin above guys who beat Wlad also raise cane when a fighter doesn’t rate the ones who beat him highest in the Best I Faced series in The Ring.

 

It also depends whether it's about overall career performance of opponents or the matchup and fight itself.

His toughest opponents matchup-wise are probably Sanders, Brewster and Fury.

Sanders destroyed him without taking any damage.
Brewster took a lot of punches then KO'd him when he was gassed.
Fury was the only one to outbox him, despite the weird fight.

Sanders doesn't have the best career record though and Brewster's isn't amazing.

Povetkin may have done what Brewster did if Wlad wasn't allowed to grapple and Brewster I might have been a hug-win if Wlad fought him like Povektin.

I don't think AJ is one of his toughest opponents because he almost KO'd him and almost certainly would have as a younger fighter. He also outboxed him for large stretches as a 41 year old. He was completely lost against Fury though.

The Haye fight was a comfortable win in the end. And he fought him much cleaner than Povetkin, who he was clearly more worried about.

 

This was mine too

 

Prime Pulev should maybe be on the list. One of Wlads best demolition jobs.

 

Povetkin, Byrd and Calvin Brock. Calvin Brock gave Wlad a very hard time..................til he got melted. Povetkin IMO is a fight to hang his hat on. And Byrd was just a stylistic mismatch, he was definitely IMO still a top 3 win for Wlad

 

Fury, Joshua and Povetkin.

 

Yeah the Pulev of that period was decent

 

Agreed I thought pulev really had a chance with that jab

 

It always amuses me when they only list fighters they beat in the best I face series. Just stroking their own ego

 

I find it interesting that no one has Chagaev in their top three (though he made #6 for @lufcrazy). In fact, Chagaev isn't even an option in the poll. And yet we are told by those who decide such things that this was the opponent that began Wlad's lineal reign

 

As Cliff Rold wrote before the Chagaev bout, it was only the official coronation. Wlad was the uncrowned king of the division before the fight, defeating 5 Top 5 guys in his recent 10 bouts, including the IBF title holder Chris Byrd, the WBO title holder Sultan Ibragimov and the future WBC title holder Samuel Peter. Chagaev was the undefeated former WBA title holder, never lost that belt in the ring, so it was a cherry on top. Klitschko and Chagaev defeated every Top 10 guy amongs each other from 2005 to 2008 before Vitali came back, so they were legitimate no. 1 and no. 2, clearly the last men standing.

 

Fury
Povetkin
Joshua / Haye / Byrd / Pulev / Chagaev

Haye might have been higher if it wasn't for Toegate, and by that I mean both Haye not having a toe injury and Haye not complaining about a toe injury after the fact!