Wlad's best wins

I don't think Pulev was dangerous for Wlad, not enough power. Wlad didn't fight many big punchers in his 2nd reign, having had a lot of trouble with them early on in his career. Pulev was a good stylistic matchup for Wlad as he was relatively static and upright, with less length, speed and power. Jennings and especially Fury were much more difficult, then AJ was relatively static and upright and an inactive 41 year old Wlad looked a lot better.

Haye was similarly cautious against Valuev, despite Germany's reputation for robberies and the fact that Valuev wasn't nearly as athletic, skilled or powerful as Wlad. Haye was in survival mode for most of Wlad fight, more concerned with not getting KO'd than actively trying to win. However, he was still very fast and agile, a massive puncher, in his prime and Wlad effectively neutralised him, winning the great majority of the rounds. Haye posed a threat that the likes of Byrd, Chambers, Sultan and Chagaev did not.

 

I agree that Peter 1 was Wlad's most impressive win. He showed he had the intangibles to be a dominant heavyweight champion in that fight when it was seriously in question.

Mormeck and Leapai were the bottom of the barrel. There were quite a few soft defences there for sure. Prime Wach was a borderline top 10 defence in Wlad's 2nd reign.

 

"How is Pulev a better win than Povetkin? Povetkin was beaten due to cheating."

For precisely that reason: Wlad didn't beat Povetkin impressively or even really legitimately.

Pulev would be a bad stylistic matchup for Povetkin. Povetkin was very susceptible to being hit (even by lower level Euro operators like Charr) clinched (Wlad) and roughed up (Huck) all things that Pulev was proficient at doing. He handled short pressure fighter Chisora easily, who was not as skilled, powerful or accurate a puncher as Povetkin but he was heavier, stronger and rougher on the inside. Maybe Povetkin would get to Pulev but I could also see Pulev (who had good toughness and a lot of heart) jabbing and grabbing his way to a decision.

 

Wlad was grabbing at every opportunity and jumping on Povetkin's back without any punishment from the referee until the late rounds, I don't give Wlad any credit for the win. Povetkin was in part the author of his own downfall though: he should have rabbit punched Wlad consistantly like Peter did the first time, or like Cieslak did to Okolie recently. That further devalues the win for me; the fact that Povetkin allowed himself to be bullied (Huck, Wlad, Charr) and didn't retaliate with dirty tactics of his own.

Haye struggled to outpoint smaller and far lower level technical boxers than Usyk at cruiser and often depended on his power to bail him out. Haye also had stamina problems and was considerably more fragile than Usyk. Wlad wasn't a prolific body puncher either, which appears to be one of Usyk's weaknesses. I suspect that Usyk would have beaten Haye by at least as great a margin as Wlad did. Wlad didn't look as convincing against southpaws Sultan and Thompson, neither of which had anything like the movement or boxing ability of Usyk.

 

"Coming into the bout, Klitschko was viewed by many as the underdog against the 7-to-5 favorite Peter"

"Klitschko entered the Peter fight as the underdog due to his opponent's incredible power, and his own suspect chin"

I've also read that Wlad was the underdog against Williamson prior to Peter 1. Getting knocked down and winning a 5 round split TD wouldn't have assured the bookies or gamblers going into the Peter fight.

 

"with zero complaint from Povetkin"

Nobody with any objectivity will give Wlad much credit for that. Povetkin should fall in everyone's estimation further for not complaining, it's got serious Joseph Parker vibes.

Wlad was reluctant to engage against the likes of Sultan and Chambers, you didn't need to be a big puncher to get his respect. Chisora pushing Usyk doesn't count for much here, neither does Peter pushing Wlad even harder as the stylistic matchup is completely different. Controlling a relatively cowardly, fragile, one-dimensional and stamina-challenged orthodox Haye and controlling Usyk are completely different kettles of fish.

A seasoned Joshua wasn't good enough to beat Usyk but a much greener Joshua was good enough to beat Wlad. Sure Wlad wasn't in his prime but neither was AJ.

 

Not his 2nd, it was a few fights after that against former LHW veteran Carl Thompson. Explosive fighters often have stamina problems for the same reason that sprinters don't make good distance runners. And 210 lbs super bulked up ex-cruisers find it even harder to keep the pace against much bigger men.

Wilder probably hits harder than Haye at that weight, even narcissist Haye claimed that Wilder is probably the biggest puncher ever. But Haye was certainly a very rare P4P heavyweight champion power puncher.