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Best Heavyweight Fight So far of the 21st Century

Posted: 11 May 2026, 02:14
by gilgamesh
I've added all of the best Heavyweight fights that I could recall from this Century to a Poll. I'm curious to know what everyone thinks. I know the dust hasn't fully settled yet from this weekend's bout, but it's still worth asking I think.

Re: Best Heavyweight Fight So far of the 21st Century

Posted: 11 May 2026, 08:22
by MasterG
I've said the DD v FW fight simply for the action, and controlled measure DD took. That was a demolition job alright

Re: Best Heavyweight Fight So far of the 21st Century

Posted: 11 May 2026, 10:22
by SeanBrennan
You missed Audley vs Haye

Re: Best Heavyweight Fight So far of the 21st Century

Posted: 11 May 2026, 10:57
by Ezzard
Ruiz-Joshua I

Re: Best Heavyweight Fight So far of the 21st Century

Posted: 11 May 2026, 10:58
by coneye
DD -- Fab , well its got to be up there with Faaack that was exciting , all the way to Jeez thats brutal stop the frigging thing , this guys gonna get seriously hurt , but definetly not the best in terms of skill

For that i suppose you would have to look at Usyk demolishing DD , if DD had the heart Fabio has , well he would off got hammered the same , maybe Usyk beating the giant Fury because Usyk is just so technicly good , he reads fights well , his distancing is superb , his chins rock solid , and he can punch , not only spitful punches but he throws every punch in the book from most positions , so for me i'd have to go watch his fights and pick a winner out of them , .

Guts excitment and bravado ,though i'd have to pick last saturdays , and give Fabio the winning chocolate bar , because it was him that made it exciting , pity were all such a bunch of blood thirsty bastards and watch it , well not only watch it but to an extent crave it , I think a mention must go to the AJ -- Ruiz fights though

Re: Best Heavyweight Fight So far of the 21st Century

Posted: 11 May 2026, 11:32
by stujones
As the title of the thread is Heavyweight fight and not title fight. I will put Chisora vs Whyte 1 in the mix.

But title fight - for me is Usyk vs Fury 1.

Re: Best Heavyweight Fight So far of the 21st Century

Posted: 11 May 2026, 11:44
by margaret thatcher
some recency bias i think. it was a fun fight but dubois won all but two rounds and about half the fight was an ass kicking that wardley never sprung a big comeback from. other fights were much more consistently competitive or featured a more dramatic and less prolonged and obvious winning trajectory

Re: Best Heavyweight Fight So far of the 21st Century

Posted: 11 May 2026, 12:01
by golden_labrador
I don't know which is the best (maybe one of Usyk's victories), but the one I was most entertained by was the AJ-Klitschko fight years ago, watching it in France with French and Colombian mates after a few beers. that fight had serious drama and had us all shouting and waving our arms around :yay:

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Re: Best Heavyweight Fight So far of the 21st Century

Posted: 11 May 2026, 14:03
by JC
golden_labrador wrote: 11 May 2026, 12:01 I don't know which is the best (maybe one of Usyk's victories), but the one I was most entertained by was the AJ-Klitschko fight years ago, watching it in France with French and Colombian mates after a few beers. that fight had serious drama and had us all shouting and waving our arms around :yay:

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For some reason that one had a big event feel like nothing else.

Weirdly, I might have enjoyed Fury Wilder 2 the most. Not that it was a great fight, but it was crazy to see Fury go out and do what he said he would do and nobody had believed him.

Re: Best Heavyweight Fight So far of the 21st Century

Posted: 11 May 2026, 14:13
by Coco
Fury v Wilder 3

Re: Best Heavyweight Fight So far of the 21st Century

Posted: 11 May 2026, 14:13
by Coco
golden_labrador wrote: 11 May 2026, 12:01 I don't know which is the best (maybe one of Usyk's victories), but the one I was most entertained by was the AJ-Klitschko fight years ago, watching it in France with French and Colombian mates after a few beers. that fight had serious drama and had us all shouting and waving our arms around :yay:

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Was a quality fight

Re: Best Heavyweight Fight So far of the 21st Century

Posted: 11 May 2026, 14:14
by Coco
stujones wrote: 11 May 2026, 11:32 As the title of the thread is Heavyweight fight and not title fight. I will put Chisora vs Whyte 1 in the mix.

But title fight - for me is Usyk vs Fury 1.
Especially with what was at stake, and the quality shown

Re: Best Heavyweight Fight So far of the 21st Century

Posted: 11 May 2026, 14:16
by Coco
Wardley v Clarke 1 was a great watch

Re: Best Heavyweight Fight So far of the 21st Century

Posted: 11 May 2026, 15:12
by margaret thatcher
Coco wrote: 11 May 2026, 14:16 Wardley v Clarke 1 was a great watch
better than wardley-dubois imo, much more consistently competitive , and still with knockdown and crazy moments

Re: Best Heavyweight Fight So far of the 21st Century

Posted: 11 May 2026, 17:27
by mickey1975
Coco wrote: 11 May 2026, 14:16 Wardley v Clarke 1 was a great watch
Much better than Wardley v Dubois. If Wardley didn’t have the air of jeopardy around him it wouldn't even be in the conversation. The fact he could maybe still pull it off kept everyone invested.

Re: Best Heavyweight Fight So far of the 21st Century

Posted: 12 May 2026, 10:27
by forcefraser
I'm with the old nutter from the Mirror. Wilder v Chisora is a clear winner

Re: Best Heavyweight Fight So far of the 21st Century

Posted: 12 May 2026, 10:43
by Lenny Cravats
Of those listed, I'm for Klitschko AJ.

Some good back and forth, and seemingly more even than many of the others listed here.

I loved the Fury Wilder fights, but apart from the knock-downs, Fury was just hammering him.

Re: Best Heavyweight Fight So far of the 21st Century

Posted: 12 May 2026, 18:10
by gilgamesh
So far we've got

9 votes for AJ vs Wlad
7 each for Fabio vs Dubois and Wilder/Fury 3
5 votes for Vitali vs Lennox Lewis

Those are the clear Top 4 with a vote here and there for other bouts that have been mentioned.

Re: Best Heavyweight Fight So far of the 21st Century

Posted: 12 May 2026, 18:11
by margaret thatcher
wardley-clark 1 was better than wardley-dubois

Re: Best Heavyweight Fight So far of the 21st Century

Posted: 12 May 2026, 18:58
by Frostieballs
Recency bias. If you hold this vote in five years time, I don’t think Fab-DDD will get a mention.

Re: Best Heavyweight Fight So far of the 21st Century

Posted: 12 May 2026, 19:04
by KiwiRider
Joshua Vs Klitschko
It was a changing of the guard, from a long and not particularly exciting reign.
The skill level was decent, the power from both very decent, the action was in every round, the fitness from both was excellent and so was recovery.
The fight had swayed from fighter to fighter, it was edge of the seat from round one. There were knockdowns, both guys were hurt, and it finished with a spectacular ko.
Plus it went way longer than predicted - Anthony Joshua was a wrecking machine at that stage of his career and Wlad had a 1-2 that had proven stopping power.

Re: Best Heavyweight Fight So far of the 21st Century

Posted: 12 May 2026, 19:55
by KiwiRider
Coco wrote: 11 May 2026, 14:16 Wardley v Clarke 1 was a great watch
It was the best British HW title fight in aaaaaaaages :OhYes: