Who were Wlad's three best opponents?

Chagaev was Ring #3, and no longer held the WBA title, due to periods of sickness, injury, and inactivity. With Chagaev allegedly forced out of the Value rematch due to hepatitis. Then fought Wlad some months later. Vitali was recognised as #2 by the Ring at that time.

Even so, as I said, no one has him their top 3, and he isn't even an option. Perhaps no one really recognized him as #2 after all, and it was as you say a coronation. A way to have elevate a champion as the brothers were not going to fight each other

 

When it comes to establishing the lineage, it doesn't matter if you hold a title or not. WBA title holder was Valuev, but Chagaev already beat him for the same exact belt. A lot of people argued Chagaev was number 2 at the time. Vitali came back strong but I don't know if beating number 3 and number 9 rated fighters make you number 2 in the process. Especially since Wlad and Chagaev were established as 2 best guys in the period of his absence.

At the end of the day, the perception of the lineal champion differs depending on the situation. Marvin Hart became the champion defeating Jack Root, but were they really 2 best heavyweights at the time? When exactly did Charles or Holmes became THE champions? Sometimes it's a process. Wlad has so many wins on his resume that can be perceived as the start of the new lineage that he without doubt was THE champion.

I would argue Chagaev could be Wlad's Top 3 win. After Povetkin and Byrd.

 

I hadn’t really watched Chagaev when he was active, but remembered a period where he was being touted as the guy to beat Wlad.

Recently I watched some of his fights and was surprisingly disappointed. Seemed like his entire game revolves around pot shotting with the left hand and holding…

I think Ibragimov was a much better fighter of similar stature.

 

For me it's pretty arguable. I went Sanders, Povetkin and Joshua, but really you could argue Fury and Ibragimov as being deserving of a place too. Haye and Peter were also formidable and somewhat underrated nowadays.

 

Chagaev was excellent and gave Povetkin a hellish fight.

 

Fur, AJ, Povetkin.

It's a shame 2 of those came in the tail end of his career but one provided an all time great fight and the heavyweight division was reborn!

 

Gonna go with Povetkin, Brewster 1 and Fury.

 

Fury, AJ, and Povetkin.

 

Fury, Saunders and Brewster

 

Fury, Joshua, Sanders

 

classic dino

 

I suppose there are some semantics involved in answering the question:

1. Is it the 3 opponents who gave the best performances against Wlad?
2. Is it the 3 Wlad oponents who were the P4p / top 10 best when Wlad fought them?
3. Is it Wlad opponents who had overall best resume / etc?
4. Is it the opponents who gave us the best fights with Wlad?

Etc etc

Lots of ways to slice it - before I went for a combination of 2 & 3

1 - would have to be Sanders, Brewster and either Byrd, Joshua or maybe Fury. Wlad was poor against Fury tho!
4 - Would probably be Joshua, regardless of anything else that was a great fight, especially compared to Wlad v Fury or Wlad vs many others he hugged and jabbed to death