Today's Guys in History to Come

[Willow The Wisp]

Just trying to make a new thread since a few current ones are pretty dead horse. Why not.

People have a tendency to disparage the current crop of fighters, especially the heavyweights. It's not everyone of course, but it seems to be a thing. It's as though they are pining for younger days and overlooking what they have right before their eyes to enjoy. Personally I hold today's crop in very high esteem. Taller, bigger than those of the past, I believe that the top dogs of this era will be remembered well.
But for those who don't agree, I wonder what it will take for Fury, Wilder, Joshua, Usyk, Ruiz etc to earn a rank as high or higher than Holmes, Tyson, Holyfield, Bowe, Lewis and the two Klitschkos.
Historically speaking, where would Fury and Wilder be in your estimation if they finished their respective careers like this:

Tyson Fury
2015
Christian Hammer...........TKO. 8
Wladimir Klitschko..........W.UD. 12
2018
Sefer Seferi......................TKO. 4
Francesco Pianeta..........W.UD. 10
Deontay Wilder................Draw. 12
2019
Tom Schwartz..................KO. 4
Otto Wallin........................W.UD. 12
2020
Deontay Wilder.................TKO. 7
2021
Deontay Wilder.................KO. 11
2022
Dillian Whyte.....................TKO. 6
Derek Chisora...................TKO. 10
2023
Oleksandr Usyk................W.UD. 12
Zhilei Zhang.....................TKO. 10
2024
Anthony Joshua...............TKO. 11
Joe Joyce.........................W.UD 12
2025
Daniel Dubois...................KO. 9
Efe Ajagba........................W.UD. 12
Jared Anderson................L. UD. 12
(Retired)

39-1-1 (27)



Deontay Wilder
2015
Bermane Stiverne............W.UD. 12
Eric Molina.......................KO. 9
Johann Duhaupas...........TKO. 11
2016
Artur Szpilka....................KO. 9
Chris Arreola....................TKO. 8
2017
Gerald Washington..........TKO. 5
Bemane Stiverne.............KO. 1
2018
Luis Ortiz..........................TKO. 10
Tyson Fury........................Draw. 12
2019
Dominic Breazeale...........KO. 1
Luis Ortiz..........................KO. 7
2020
Tyson Fury........................L TKO BY. 7
2021
Tyson Fury........................L KO BY. 11
2022
Robert Helenius...............KO. 1
2023
Andy Ruiz Jr.....................TKO 10
Frank Sanchez.................TKO. 7
Charles Martin.................KO. 3
2024
Simon Kean.....................KO. 4
Jermaine Franklin...........TKO. 7
Bakhodirir Jalolov...........KO. 5
2025
Anthony Joshua..............KO. 6
Arslanbek Makhmudov...KO. 9
Jarred Anderson.............L TKO. 12

(Retired)

51-3-1 (50)

I can't say that Jared Anderson is the next great one (not convinced yet), but today's best have to finish up somehow, so I'm hypothetically using that name to usher out the old era.

So......
Have the two champions done enough here to earn our respect as greats???

[QueensburyRules]

- - They'd be like you aimlessly circling around a distant star in a distant galaxy that nobody knows about yet.

[Willow The Wisp]

- - They'd be like you aimlessly circling around a distant star in a distant galaxy that nobody knows about yet.

That's exactly what I was thinking QueensburyRules. Exactly!

[GhostofDempsey]

I don’t see how Wilder improves upon his legacy enough to consider him for the HOF, let alone making anyone’s all-time great list. Even a win over Ruiz, AJ, and Joyce doesn’t put him in the conversation, especially since the first two have already been beaten and stopped before the distance.

[The D3vil]

I don’t see how Wilder improves upon his legacy enough to consider him for the HOF, let alone making anyone’s all-time great list. Even a win over Ruiz, AJ, and Joyce doesn’t put him in the conversation, especially since the first two have already been beaten and stopped before the distance.

Everybody with 9 successful defenses of the HW championship or more are in the HOF.

Wilder's at 9, which ties him with Joe Frazier, Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis, and Ezzard Charles.

Now, I'm not saying he's as good as them or that the competition he's faced as good as theirs, but numbers matter.

Anthony Joshua tied for 11th with James Jefferies and Jack Johnson

Whoever wins their fight is going to the HOF.

Maybe not immediately, but they will eventually be in there.\

Fury's already in.

[QueensburyRules]

Everybody with 9 successful defenses of the HW championship or more are in the HOF.

Wilder's at 9, which ties him with Joe Frazier, Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis, and Ezzard Charles.

Now, I'm not saying he's as good as them or that the competition he's faced as good as theirs, but numbers matter.

Anthony Joshua tied for 11th with James Jefferies and Jack Johnson

Whoever wins their fight is going to the HOF.

Maybe not immediately, but they will eventually be in there.\

Fury's already in.

- - Mobbed Blubber in da house!!!

Deyonce never unified much like Tubby Lar and Blubber, a single belt holder in a multibelt era.

Deyonce vs Tubby Lar who used to be skinny, and so who you got?

[Willow The Wisp]

I don’t see how Wilder improves upon his legacy enough to consider him for the HOF, let alone making anyone’s all-time great list. Even a win over Ruiz, AJ, and Joyce doesn’t put him in the conversation, especially since the first two have already been beaten and stopped before the distance.

That is a perfect example of what I describe at the top when I wrote: "People have a tendency to disparage the current crop of fighters, especially the heavyweights".

Wilder, like Fury and Joshua have fought and beaten the very best the human race could throw at them for 8 years. The three worked in tandem to defeat the best. What Wilder can be credited with is making more title defenses than the other two, and not being repeatedly beaten by underdogs ala Joshua.
if doing that was anything less than extraordinary requiring an extraordinary ability, every tough guy would do it, instead of whilling their life away working for a boss in a jacket and tie.

I well remember that 10 years ago nobody could bring up the name Klitschko without recounting the multiple times Wladimir was found flopping around on the canvas or Vitali never once securing a win over somebody he wasn't expected to easily beat. I remember 20 years ago that Lennox Lewis was known by the armchair critics as the guy who got laid out flat by hot & cold types like McCall and Rahman. And so it goes back to the beginning.
Ezzard Charles took a load of crap in his time for not being Joe Louis, and made it worse when he earned a nod over the Brown Bomber.

People think the dardest things, and the harder the mission, the more the critics congregate.

Any non prizefighter would piss their pants locked in a room with Chris Arreola or Johann Duhaupas after being caught calling them nobodies. Seemingly no clue what kind of skills they've acquired in order to contend. Bad boy.

[JAB5239]

- - Mobbed Blubber in da house!!!

Deyonce never unified much like Tubby Lar and Blubber, a single belt holder in a multibelt era.

Deyonce vs Tubby Lar who used to be skinny, and so who you got?

You must be in the waste management business because you recycle the same old crap day in and day out.

[QueensburyRules]

You must be in the waste management business because you recycle the same old crap day in and day out.

- - How you keep popping out of them big bins back into the little bins is a modern conundrum inexplicable to today's most esteemed scientists...

[The D3vil]

- - Mobbed Blubber in da house!!!

Deyonce never unified much like Tubby Lar and Blubber, a single belt holder in a multibelt era.

Deyonce vs Tubby Lar who used to be skinny, and so who you got?

Holmes proved he could take the hardest punch ever in Shavers, so I don't know if Wilder would knock him out, which would be his only shot.

I do know Holmes had arguably the best jab in the history of the division and could outbox Deontay.

I'm going with Holmes by UD.