BoxRec

Who do we think are the most vulnerable World Champions out there?

it appears if andy lee can get by saunders next weekend he will cash in
vs GGG or canelo, probably GGG, in his next fight. i'm not even sure lee
makes it past saunders though and it would cost him millions.

the wbc, wba/wbo, and ibf heavy titlists in 2016 will all probaby be dangerous to
each other when things shake out, which is what makes the division awesome
again.

liam smith might keep his wbo next week but probably won't keep it much
longer than that.

troyanovsky might be able to defend his ibf against some contenders but
wouldn't survive a unification.

other than linares, not sure who at lightweight can keep their titles.

I think Arthur Abraham is vulnerable to someone who is slick and or has a good strong jab which means either for example Callum Smith or James DeGale will emerge victorious against him. I also think Liam Smith might come unstuck against a slickster ie Erislandy Lara at Light Middleweight. Any thoughts on Victor Ramirez?

Obviously Tyson Fury tops this list.

There are 6 guys in the top 10 who have a good to great chance of beating him,
including the guy that he just defeated.

IRLangmaid25 wrote:I think Arthur Abraham is vulnerable to someone who is slick and or has a good strong jab which means either for example Callum Smith or James DeGale will emerge victorious against him. I also think Liam Smith might come unstuck against a slickster ie Erislandy Lara at Light Middleweight. Any thoughts on Victor Ramirez?

Agree with Abraham just looks there for the taking.imo I think he lost to Murray.

Deontay Wilder is quite weak, somehow he continually succeed avoiding the top 15 for years now.

Definitely agree with Liam Smith, I think he may be one of the weakest out there with a major belt.

Others I would include are Victor Ramirez and Badou Jack. I thought Jack would lose badly against Groves, so he has overcome one hurdle, but I don't see him holding the belt long.

Defintely Liam Smith.

I think Wilder will be when questions start to be raised (already started really)

Arthur Abraham has been vulnerable for a fights imo - I think Smith, DeGale and Groves all could beat him.

I think DeGale beats B.Jack (this fight look like it will be made)

I also think Anthony Crolla will have some very hard defences..

Wilder
Shumenov
Breahmer
Jack
Lee
Smith
Linares
Pungluang
Cuadras

Ramirez at cruiser.
Chudinov at Super-Middle
Lee at Middle
Liam Smith at Light Middle
Troyanavsky at LWW
Crolla at lightweight
Payano at Bantam
Haskins at Bantam

koolkc107 wrote:Obviously Tyson Fury tops this list.

There are 6 guys in the top 10 who have a good to great chance of beating him,
including the guy that he just defeated.

I think he may just be one of the strongest world champions we will see.

You've got to look at how likely the champion is to face the challenges that will bring out their vulnerability. Abraham is certainly beatable but will he face anyone capable of beating him clearly enough to get a decision*? I personally feel it unlikely he will any time soon. Same maybe for Liam Smith (who I feel is a little underrated but would certainly really struggle with an Andrade or a Charlo brother).

Deontay Wilder has Povetkin to come sooner or later guaranteed which puts him in a more vulnerable position than most, even if he does have a chance to beat him when they fight (though I don't think he will).

Anthony Crolla strikes me as a guy who, like Darren Barker or Ishe Smith, put so much mental effort into winning a world title that they end up surrendering it fairly quickly thereafter. Hope I'm wrong about that.

The winner of Glazkov - Martin.

* for the record I don't think it is massively harder to win a decision in Germany than anywhere else, but the close ones do go to the home guy slightly more often at least.

asdfjkl wrote:Deontay Wilder is quite weak, somehow he continually succeed avoiding the top 15 for years now.

Wilder continues to frustrate those desperate to write him off. Nobody has proven him vulnerable yet. His supposed vulnerability is based more on wishful thinking than anything else.

Redback Rasta wrote:

asdfjkl wrote:Deontay Wilder is quite weak, somehow he continually succeed avoiding the top 15 for years now.

Wilder continues to frustrate those desperate to write him off. Nobody has proven him vulnerable yet. His supposed vulnerability is based more on wishful thinking than anything else.

And the who he is fighting? he is the WBC champion and shi.t scared of fighting anybody who will test him, joke of a boxer! And will get chinned soon as he steps up.

Rexob wrote:

Redback Rasta wrote:

asdfjkl wrote:Deontay Wilder is quite weak, somehow he continually succeed avoiding the top 15 for years now.

Wilder continues to frustrate those desperate to write him off. Nobody has proven him vulnerable yet. His supposed vulnerability is based more on wishful thinking than anything else.

And the who he is fighting? he is the WBC champion and shi.t scared of fighting anybody who will test him, joke of a boxer! And will get chinned soon as he steps up.

it's povetkin who said he wasn't ready for the mandatory fight, which will be in the spring.
you can only fight who they put in front of you. the fact that povetkin said he wasn't ready
is not something which can be used to slight wilder. just point to something from wilder's
last 3 fights that made you think he is "weak". how many rounds has he lost?

sucracristo wrote:

Rexob wrote:

Redback Rasta wrote:
Wilder continues to frustrate those desperate to write him off. Nobody has proven him vulnerable yet. His supposed vulnerability is based more on wishful thinking than anything else.

And the who he is fighting? he is the WBC champion and shi.t scared of fighting anybody who will test him, joke of a boxer! And will get chinned soon as he steps up.

it's povetkin who said he wasn't ready for the mandatory fight, which will be in the spring.
you can only fight who they put in front of you. the fact that povetkin said he wasn't ready
is not something which can be used to slight wilder. just point to something from wilder's
last 3 fights that made you think he is "weak". how many rounds has he lost?

Getting rocked by a 37 world rated Johann Duhaupas? Struggled with a 43 world rated Johann Duhaupas.

I'd agree with Liam Smith.

Rexob wrote:

sucracristo wrote:

Rexob wrote:

And the who he is fighting? he is the WBC champion and shi.t scared of fighting anybody who will test him, joke of a boxer! And will get chinned soon as he steps up.

it's povetkin who said he wasn't ready for the mandatory fight, which will be in the spring.
you can only fight who they put in front of you. the fact that povetkin said he wasn't ready
is not something which can be used to slight wilder. just point to something from wilder's
last 3 fights that made you think he is "weak". how many rounds has he lost?

Getting rocked by a 37 world rated Johann Duhaupas? Struggled with a 43 world rated Johann Duhaupas.

he won every round on all 3 cards before tko'ing him, didn't he? lol
was he rated 37 or 43 or something else at the time? what are you going by?

sucracristo wrote:

Rexob wrote:

sucracristo wrote:
it's povetkin who said he wasn't ready for the mandatory fight, which will be in the spring.
you can only fight who they put in front of you. the fact that povetkin said he wasn't ready
is not something which can be used to slight wilder. just point to something from wilder's
last 3 fights that made you think he is "weak". how many rounds has he lost?

Getting rocked by a 37 world rated Johann Duhaupas? Struggled with a 43 world rated Johann Duhaupas.

he won every round on all 3 cards before tko'ing him, didn't he? lol
was he rated 37 or 43 or something else at the time? what are you going by?

It's ok you can claim that Wilder is the next coming, when he's obviously not. Taking on lower calibre fighters, as Wilders team know for sure that he will get KTFO anytime he faces someone with a remote chance of beating him.

Rexob wrote:

sucracristo wrote:

Rexob wrote:

Getting rocked by a 37 world rated Johann Duhaupas? Struggled with a 43 world rated Johann Duhaupas.

he won every round on all 3 cards before tko'ing him, didn't he? lol
was he rated 37 or 43 or something else at the time? what are you going by?

It's ok you can claim that Wilder is the next coming, when he's obviously not. Taking on lower calibre fighters, as Wilders team know for sure that he will get KTFO anytime he faces someone with a remote chance of beating him.

don't tell my what you think i'm saying. i'm simply asking you to support what you're saying.
again, it was povetkin who said he wasn't ready, not wilder, so you are wrong about wilder
avoiding guys like povetkin. you say he "struggled" against duhaupas, who you say was both
the 37th and 43rd rated heavy. AFTER the loss to wilder, duhaupass is 37 on boxrec and
is still 19 by the WBC. again, AFTER the loss, when his rating is lower than before, and wilder
won ever round on all 3 cards before tko'ing duhaupass. this is why you say he is "weak".
i don't think any heavyweights right now are the next coming. it's an interesting division, though,
and wilder's movement and physical tools are part of what make it interesting among the top guys.

I'm tempted to say Jack but his last two fights have won me over somewhat.

sucracristo wrote:

Rexob wrote:

Redback Rasta wrote:
Wilder continues to frustrate those desperate to write him off. Nobody has proven him vulnerable yet. His supposed vulnerability is based more on wishful thinking than anything else.

And the who he is fighting? he is the WBC champion and shi.t scared of fighting anybody who will test him, joke of a boxer! And will get chinned soon as he steps up.

it's povetkin who said he wasn't ready for the mandatory fight, which will be in the spring.
you can only fight who they put in front of you. the fact that povetkin said he wasn't ready
is not something which can be used to slight wilder. just point to something from wilder's
last 3 fights that made you think he is "weak". how many rounds has he lost?

Povetkin also said he was ready before that moment, but not just after the Wach fight, Povetkin has been fighting in May and October for years and years in a row now, and Wilder simply isn't important enough to change anything about that. If Wilder now suddenly claims he does want to fight the entire world, exactly at the moment everybody said they didn't want to fight in Januari most people realise he's just joking or fooling his own fans.
Wilder claims he wants to stand up for several years now, but still hasn't actually done it, using many many excuses.
Briggs even offered to fight him for free, but he still didn't accept it.
Szpilka is another predictable quite soft hitting boxer that will lose most of his rounds against Wilder because Wilder simply got like 8% more reach (and that's a lot!).
Briggs actually had a chance against Wilder, because he is stronger and will pop up a style Wilder has never had in front of him.
I think even Dillian Whyte has a bigger chance against Wilder.

When Wilder just became a champion Povetkin was definetly a lot better, TBH I think Povetkin downgraded a bit over time, he didn't seem unbeateble against Wach. This while Wilder became better and better, he really showed a good performance agains Duhaupas. So unlike before, I'm not a 100% sure any more weather Povetkin will win in just a couple of months

sucracristo wrote:

Rexob wrote:

Redback Rasta wrote:
Wilder continues to frustrate those desperate to write him off. Nobody has proven him vulnerable yet. His supposed vulnerability is based more on wishful thinking than anything else.

And the who he is fighting? he is the WBC champion and shi.t scared of fighting anybody who will test him, joke of a boxer! And will get chinned soon as he steps up.

it's povetkin who said he wasn't ready for the mandatory fight, which will be in the spring.
you can only fight who they put in front of you. the fact that povetkin said he wasn't ready
is not something which can be used to slight wilder. just point to something from wilder's
last 3 fights that made you think he is "weak". how many rounds has he lost?

Redback Rasta wrote:

asdfjkl wrote:Deontay Wilder is quite weak, somehow he continually succeed avoiding the top 15 for years now.

Wilder continues to frustrate those desperate to write him off. Nobody has proven him vulnerable yet. His supposed vulnerability is based more on wishful thinking than anything else.

He was clearly rocked by Molina, someone who was probably only just top 40, and I'd say that he looked vulnerable. Even against Duhaupas one of his eyes was nearly closed, and he's shown me flaws that make me question how consistently he can beat elite opposition (which he's yet to face of course).

sucracristo wrote:

Rexob wrote:

sucracristo wrote:
it's povetkin who said he wasn't ready for the mandatory fight, which will be in the spring.
you can only fight who they put in front of you. the fact that povetkin said he wasn't ready
is not something which can be used to slight wilder. just point to something from wilder's
last 3 fights that made you think he is "weak". how many rounds has he lost?

Getting rocked by a 37 world rated Johann Duhaupas? Struggled with a 43 world rated Johann Duhaupas.

he won every round on all 3 cards before tko'ing him, didn't he? lol
was he rated 37 or 43 or something else at the time? what are you going by?

No he didn't. Wilder didn't unanimously win every round against Molina or Duhaupas, and while he deserved significant leads that hardly means that he didn't show signs of vulnerability. At the same time he's obviously far from a 'joke' and I think several of the fighters mentioned are more vulnerable than he is.

When I think of vulnerable champions Jorge Linares is one of the first to come into my mind, even though he's quite arguably the top guy in his division; I just can't shake the feeling that he's a moment away from some sort of calamity.