Would Valuev be top 10 in current era

Had Valuev beat a Big Bang id rate him much higher. As for Big Makh yeh, exposed. Kabayel did also beat Delboy who would actually be a threat against the old men that Valuev beat. Valuev was well backed in Europe wasnt he set up in Germany so he had a strong base, and got the fights to happen, but for him to be a champ in this era is a no go.

 

Yes

 

Same can be said for loads of top ten guys. They all get tagged plenty. Honestly from my eyes he moves well for 145 KG 7 foot behemoth. He could easily add more size and bulk, but he is very lean and he puts his punches together well at good speed and is agile when moving for such a big guy.

It's that stuff combined with his physicality and reach that would give guys problems today. His skills are average but he brings toughness, granite head, size.

Julius long for example is an absolute joke by comparison, useless in every way.

 

Yeh he was well schooled with the jab, good stamina and tough. but you gotta factor in that he fought two prime quality fighters and lost, i think he was past prime vs haye though. And the men he did beat, Ruiz his best win was a solid fighter but was aging himself, liakovich was a capable fighter but chinny as they get, larry donald was shot, lacked power. If he was physically in his prime, in the early 2000s, he beat no one of note.

Once the blueprint of beating Valuev was out that was it, he didnt have KO power and wasnt explosive enough to do anything about it. He wasnt particularly physical for such a huge man.

 

Yes. For all his hate he would certainly crack the top ten today.

He'd beat Chisora, Dubois and Zhang imo.

 

Fair points, I personally enjoy watching Valuev fight he isn't boring. More entertaining than Fury for me.

He lacked KO punching power like Wilder for example, but still stopped loads of guys. I wish I could ask his opponents how hard he hits, because that's a lot of weight and leverage coming at you at length.

 

Perhaps yeh, scraping in to the top 10, based on what hes done. But the current crop beat those versions Ruiz and Holyfield with ease. They got by at that age, by experience and craft, and almost zero huge punchers and athletes to knock them out, the HW division was on a stand still, Wlad and Vitali, The era really lacked any top quality other than the klitchkos, povetkin got better in 2010s+, and nowadays they are bigger and stronger.

 

I voted maybe if matched properly

It has been such a long time since I watched him fight though i generally rooted for him out of novelty and he had a cult following/memeification on here

pro: size, ability to take a shot, jab, good boxing fundamentally though nothing flashy, didn’t really struggle going 12 rounds.

con: some questionable decisions like Ruiz, Holyfield and Donald. His McCline win looks good on paper but it was a blown out knee, sure don king tried to play it up like his punch did that but I don’t think so. He was slow footed and struggled to pin down movers

who I think he can beat: Zhang due to limited gas tank and ability to go 12, Joe Joyce who is also very slow and has bad defense and seems to rely on being big and jabbing would be at a disadvantage, Dubois I was impressed by his miller win but he got jabbed to death vs Joyce I think Valuev could potentially do the same as Dubois is not really a guy I like in H2H matchups.

I think he would be interesting vs Hrgovic who is relatively unproven minus the Zhang fight and dominating the other guys he’s fought. He also can move on his feet and box well and is not completely dwarfed

I favor Joshua wilder and Parker though I think the fights would be competitive

 

I mean Whyte was a much bigger puncher than SNV let alone Wilder.

 

I would not count him out inthis terrible HW era. Decent mover and hand speed for his size.

 

How would you describe Valuevs era? If you think this one is terrible.

 

That era being bad doesn't mean this one isn't.