Heavyweight's on a Streak of Credible Opponents

[Ruthless-RKO]

Which of the current HW's are on a good run of opponents, win or lose.. They don't have to be elite.. But just opponent's that you would agree are credible..

It's not the best division when it comes to names and fights that are made.. I'm sure we can agree on some names..

Let's say a minimum run of 2 opponents.. If anymore, then great..

ps. You can include scheduled bouts..

[Ossyrules]

Wlad and Takam make Joshua credible

The rest without looking up records from my memory may have fought 1 good one but normally a pie before that

[Ruthless-RKO]

I'll go first..

I have to say, Alexander Povetkin..

Including his upcoming bout with Christian Hammer, his previous run of opponents are..

Andriy Rudenko (durable fringe contender)
Johann Duhaupas (former WBC title challenger, who has some decent names on his resume)
Mariusz Wach (former world title challenger, prior to Povektin, had only lost to Wlad - Beat Teper this year and will now fight Big Baby Miller)
Mike Perez (now a cruiserweight, prior to Povetkin, lost a split dec to Jennings and a majority draw with Takam)
Carlos Takam (prior to Povetkin fight, was 30-1-1, 23 KOs - considered a strong contender at the time, and still a contender today)

Including Hammer, that's a decent run of 6 opponents, add Manual Charr in there if you want.. He continues to fight decent names.. I admit Rudenko isn't the best of the fringe level contenders, but in a HW era where most HW contenders are hardly fighting each other.. You've got Povetkin on a decent run..

[Ruthless-RKO]

Wlad and Takam make Joshua credible

The rest without looking up records from my memory may have fought 1 good one but normally a pie before that

Since I created the criteria of at least 2 opponents, I would agree with Joshua..

[Ruthless-RKO]

Pulev's last 3 opponents,

Chisora, Peter and Johnson.. (could have been AJ next)

Chisora I would give him that, but Peter and Johnson, kinda of came too late..

[Ossyrules]

I'll go first..

I have to say, Alexander Povetkin..

Including his upcoming bout with Christian Hammer, his previous run of opponents are..

Andriy Rudenko (durable fringe contender)
Johann Duhaupas (former WBC title challenger, who has some decent names on his resume)
Mariusz Wach (former world title challenger, prior to Povektin, had only lost to Wlad - Beat Teper this year and will now fight Big Baby Miller)
Mike Perez (now a cruiserweight, prior to Povetkin, lost a split dec to Jennings and a majority draw with Takam)
Carlos Takam (prior to Povetkin fight, was 30-1-1, 23 KOs - considered a strong contender at the time, and still a contender today)

Including Hammer, that's a decent run of 6 opponents, add Manual Charr in there if you want.. He continues to fight decent names.. I admit Rudenko isn't the best of the fringe level contenders, but in a HW era where most HW contenders are hardly fighting each other.. You've got Povetkin on a decent run..

I discounted povetkin based on rudenko not being up to standard to fight him. But that’s just my opinion. The rest he is fighting decent opponents

[Ruthless-RKO]

I discounted povetkin based on rudenko not being up to standard to fight him. But that’s just my opinion. The rest he is fighting decent opponents

Yeh, as I said, he's not the best fringe level contender.. He is very durable, and although he lost wide, he showed he's very durable, having never been knocked out and I think he'd give some contenders a hard time.

He's is the only name that let's Povetkin down..

[Ossyrules]

Someone is playing funny games, wilder has a vote

[candyslim]

I think it depends who you are and what status you occupy within the division: Wilder gets sh*t for his run of ... Stiverne, Molina, Duhaupas, Szpilka, Arreola, Washington, and Stiverne. That's fair enough he's WBC champion of the world. But if that's your roster of opponents and your Adam Kownacki or Trevor Bryan then that same list suddenly looks very impressive. See what I mean?

Fighters I regard as willing to face anyone if the price is right include: Joshua, Povetkin, Ortiz, Breazeale, Takam, Whyte, Miller, Hammer, Duhaupas, Chisora ... others no doubt but that'll do to be going on with.

[Ruthless-RKO]

I think it depends who you are and what status you occupy within the division: Wilder gets sh*t for his run of ... Stiverne, Molina, Duhaupas, Szpilka, Arreola, Washington, and Stiverne. That's fair enough he's WBC champion of the world. But if that's your roster of opponents and your Adam Kownacki or Trevor Bryan then that same list suddenly looks very impressive. See what I mean?

You are right, because it's Wilder, and he's champion, he's had voluntarys meaning he's picked from a list of opponents. That's why he gets stick..

But yeh, if say Kownacki had then same opponents, he would be top of my list of recent run of credible opponents

[candyslim]

Perhaps a fair way to judge would be for example to score say 6 points for fighting someone up to 10 places above your boxrec rating. 10 points if more than 10 places above you, and 4 points for someone within 10 places below you and 2 points for someone up to twenty places below, if you're rated in the top twenty.

As the pyramid expands fighters on your level become more numerous so by the time you are at say 100 you might get say 6 points for someone within 30 places above, and 10 points for someone above 30 places. 4 points for someone up to 30 places below and 2 points for up to 50 places below,

I've spent no time thinking this through so try not to be too harsh in considering this idea.

Cheers Ruthless

[Lennox]

Your answers are here.

The lower the number the better the quality of opposition.

www.premierboxingorganisation.com/heavyweight-200

Joshua
Povetkin
Wilder

the rest don't really streak

[Ruthless-RKO]

Your answers are here.

The lower the number the better the quality of opposition.

www.premierboxingorganisation.com/heavyweight-200

Joshua
Povetkin
Wilder

the rest don't really streak

That's completely fine, just thought, everyone has their own opinion.. Some fighters are more/less credible in our eyes.

[asdfjkl]

I think Breazeale, he had the odds against him in like 3 of his last 4 matches and even the one he had the odds with him the odds were a lot closer as many other heavyweight fights.

[Lennox]

The heavyweights are a real shambles. Hypothetically if Joshua faced Wilder in February and won, who else could Joshua really fight, there is very little worthy back up. Pulev, Parker are 99% certain to get beaten, they can't outpoint him, do they have a big enough punch.... Povetkin is step up, The only credible fight for both fighters is AJ v DW. I think Deontay has got a decent chance but I would probably think Joshua would win.

Ortiz has gone nearly a year and realistically is getting older and older and it will be 18 months before he can fight for a title, by that time the new GB crop will be coming through. Any American hot prospects likely?

[asdfjkl]

AJ was expected to win all matches, only Klitschko was a small doubt. In fact AJ was quite disappointing against Takam for example, but still won easely.
Povetkin is trying everything he can to get credible opponents, but Wilder ducked him, the WBC has set him up against a massive bum and eventually quite a bum as 2nd option.
Wilder is just pathatic, there has never in the history of the sport been any "champion" with this many, such uncredebly low leveled opponents.
Pulev has had the odds in his advantage every fight he fought since Klitschko, only Chisora had a small chance of winning against him.
Parker took some serious risks, even without any need to do so and neither did he get big paydays with it, Takam, Andy Ruiz Jr, Hughie Fury, he took Takam out of free choice? Very remarkeble and it makes him very likeble, Andy Ruiz was a very risky choice and his mandatory clearly isn't a joke either.
Breazeale has taken a lot of risk, by taking Mansour, AJ, Ugonoh (who's a very credible and likeble opponent!), only last week he suddenly moved to fight a massive bum, but I understood that was on Wilder his request.
I'm highly surprised Hammer is ranked this high, I'm not impressed by the opponents he won against, and neither am I impressed about him, how he earned boxrec rank 9 is a mistery for me.
Dillian Whyte took some risk by fighting Chisora and Helenius, somehow he was expected to win against both and so he did.

For me, when I compare the list of names to their opponents and compare them to the odds I would give him, I think Breazeale earned the most respect, I never expected him to win against Mansour and I also gave Ugonoh the odds to win against him. Luck or skills, Breazeale won both and earned some of my respect.

[Lennox]

Did you watch the fight Brezealle v Mansour? ........ If you did then I don't know how you can cite that as a triumph, subjectively I would put Mansour ahead of Brezealle on that fight. He beat Eric Molina and a Nigerian that had never beaten anyone in the top 100... some streak.

[gilgamesh]

Joshua's last 2 wins is one of the more noteworthy streaks I can think...considering it's only a 2 fight streak that's a sad comment on the entire division.

[KiwiRider]

I'm glad someone mentioned Parker.
If you discount Cojanu because he was a 2 week replacement, Parker has been on the edge of losing his last 4 fights. He has had to go 12 rounds to squeak out a decision each time. Yes we are talking a lower level than some others mentioned, but given his limited experience, it hasn't been easy for him at all.
I also give Brazeale an honourable mention. He has not had it easy in his last 4 fights either. So he lost to AJ? So would most. But at least he is man enough to step up and give it a go.
But the winner has to be AJ. The amount of unbeaten fighters he has taken out plus Wlad has to give him the edge in this. No one really knew what Charles Martian was like, AJ fought him really early in his career. Actually at only 20 fights it's still really early in his career. Beating unbeaten fighters is the hardest because there is no certain way to do it.

[jamamb]

mate gary cornish was unbeaten but not credible at all. pretty obvious he wasnt much. someone not having lost doesnt mean you can have no idea how good they are. surely as a knowledgable boxing fan you dont worship records in that way. ppl like you are one reason fighters pad their records i guess. unbeaten so must be credible!

but yes aj does have pretty good bunch of decent opposition, though not because of unbeaten records. whyte pushed himself into the top 15 after losing to aj and breazeale also did the same AFTER the loss. cornish and martin were unbeaten but still arent credible. wlad of course and takam were credible even with multiple losses.

[Ruthless-RKO]

I'm glad you guys have joined in.. when yu think of the HW we HAVE got.. there are some considered to be on a good run.. fought good contenders.. it's not easy being a 'name' in the HW division right now.. but it shows that we can recognise which opponents are credible.. reading the comments, well done and thanks guys..

From what i've gathered..

AJ
Povetkin
Parker
Breazeale

[Lackeos]

Of course, the flaw in this poll was making it a Pick One. But anyways...

I think this poll was tailor-made for picking Povetkin. To fight, in succession, Andrzej Wawrzyk (meh, but he was undefeated and top 35 at the time), Wladimir Klitschko, Manuel Charr (top 30 at the time), Carlos Takam, Mike Perez (top 20-25 at the time), Mariusz Wach, Johann Duhaupas, Andriy Rudenko (meh), and Christian Hammer; that's incredible. That kind of consistency from a fighter who doesn't even have a belt is absurd.

Parker is probably second. The Cojanu and Haumono fights don't support his candidacy well. But even so, he fought Takam, Dimitrenko, Ruiz, and Hughie in the span of 16 months, plus 2 other scrubs for good measure. He was pretty much taken to the brink in 3 of those fights. Relative to his skill level, he is being pushed really hard, really fast.

Joshua is probably worth mentioning third. Going from a mediocre ranking and no belt to suddenly beating Dillian Whyte, Charles Martin, Dominick Breazeale, Eric Molina (meh), Wlad, and Takam and capturing 3 belts in under 2 years is pretty sick.

I think Hammer is worth mentioning fourth. His fight with Benmakhlouf sort of breaks-up the flow, but he's beat Erkan Teper and David Price in the past 13 months and has Povetkin coming up in 1 month. That's just ridiculous for a totally unheralded contender, and he probably doesn't even get paid very well. It's absurd how much this guy is flying under the radar.

Wilder probably comes in fifth. His opposition has rarely met my satisfaction, but I have to admit that he's fought 7 opponents in a row who were more or less inside the top 50, even though I'm not super sold on Arreola, Washington, and Szpilka right now (and other people are majorly lowering their estimation of Stiverne as well, but maybe that's too harsh).

[KiwiRider]

Of course, the flaw in this poll was making it a Pick One. But anyways...

I think this poll was tailor-made for picking Povetkin. To fight, in succession, Andrzej Wawrzyk (meh, but he was undefeated and top 35 at the time), Wladimir Klitschko, Manuel Charr (top 30 at the time), Carlos Takam, Mike Perez (top 20-25 at the time), Mariusz Wach, Johann Duhaupas, Andriy Rudenko (meh), and Christian Hammer; that's incredible. That kind of consistency from a fighter who doesn't even have a belt is absurd.

Parker is probably second. The Cojanu and Haumono fights don't support his candidacy well. But even so, he fought Takam, Dimitrenko, Ruiz, and Hughie in the span of 16 months, plus 2 other scrubs for good measure. He was pretty much taken to the brink in 3 of those fights. Relative to his skill level, he is being pushed really hard, really fast.

Joshua is probably worth mentioning third. Going from a mediocre ranking and no belt to suddenly beating Dillian Whyte, Charles Martin, Dominick Breazeale, Eric Molina (meh), Wlad, and Takam and capturing 3 belts in under 2 years is pretty sick.

I think Hammer is worth mentioning fourth. His fight with Benmakhlouf sort of breaks-up the flow, but he's beat Erkan Teper and David Price in the past 13 months and has Povetkin coming up in 1 month. That's just ridiculous for a totally unheralded contender, and he probably doesn't even get paid very well. It's absurd how much this guy is flying under the radar.

Wilder probably comes in fifth. His opposition has rarely met my satisfaction, but I have to admit that he's fought 7 opponents in a row who were more or less inside the top 50, even though I'm not super sold on Arreola, Washington, and Szpilka right now (and other people are majorly lowering their estimation of Stiverne as well, but maybe that's too harsh).

You make good points about Povitkin and Hammer
I think Hammer is coming of age so to speak. He is definitely on my radar..

[jamamb]

dont think much of hammer tbh. basic. short. fat. no serious power. teper looked deflated post peds and lost ud to wach right after hammer beat him. price is a sad case really shouldnt be considered a serious win.

i think a sd over post-ped fail teper is as good as hell get on his resume. given how dumpy the division is you can flatter him just by saying hes top 20 or so, but he really aint much and wont be competetive with anyone good.

if you consider him a credible opponent for povetkin you should do the same for most wilder opponents over the last 4 years.

[Ruthless-RKO]

dont think much of hammer tbh. basic. short. fat. no serious power. teper looked deflated post peds and lost ud to wach right after hammer beat him. price is a sad case really shouldnt be considered a serious win.

i think a sd over post-ped fail teper is as good as hell get on his resume. given how dumpy the division is you can flatter him just by saying hes top 20 or so, but he really aint much and wont be competetive with anyone good.

We just have to make do with the HW's we have.. and give credit to those who do step up and fight good contenders. It's not the best division when it cones to talent, but for what its worth.. they're not all bad names..