Even thought Wlad flattened him, he still is one of the top five Heavyweights in the world today - just because you lose to the Champ doesn't mean that you are a bum. And I do give Wladimir massive credit for taking the fight, even though it was an IBF Mandatory fight for him - he could've very easily dropped that title and he would still have been known as the clear number one Heavyweight, but he took the fight against the man was Boxrec ranked number two, and that's good enough for me.
I would find it refreshing if other Boxrec Number Ones fought the Number Twos, you would have fights like:
Light Heavyweight - Adonis Stevenson vs Sergey Kovalev
Middleweight - Gennady Golovkin vs Miguel Cotto
Welterweight - Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquaio
You have to say, there's not many boxing fans who would turn their back to watch those fights...