The relevant players at heavyweight

[Fox McCloud]

Wladimir Klitschko
Vitali Klitschko
David Haye (because of his terrific cruiserweight resume)
Nikolay Valuev (merely because of his fake belt)
Chris Arreola (undefeated record with some good names on his resume)
Alexander Povetkin (amateur record and undefeated record with really good names on his resume)
Winner of Johnson-Solis (undefeated record with a good win over the loser)
Winner of Dimitrenko-Chambers (big win over the loser)

Did I miss anyone?

[Chunk..]

Tyson Fury.

,,,,,,,,,,,

[TredKiller]

Eddie chambers is a good boxer type fighter,
he beat sam peter

[The Hammer]

Denis Boytsov (BoxRec #15) just had a big win over *****ko, he is close to being a relevant player now. Lamon Brewster needs a good win to put himself back into the top ten. And Kevin Johnson is one good win away from being a top contender.

All the others are clearly below that level.

It will be interesting to see how Stefan Kretschmann does against Bakhtov next Friday, he may have some potential. I thought Alexander Ustinov might be ready to soon join the relevant players, but he was overweight and wasn't overly impressive against Michael Sprott yesterday, although he clearly won. Similarly, Odlanier Solis has the talent to be a top contender, but he keeps gaining weight.

Then there's people like Platov, Pala and Pianeta - they seem to be a bit below world class potential, but who knows, the're young and still improving. Wawrzyk and Helenius do have talent, but need another year or so to develop. In the US there's Chazz Witherspoon, Travis Walker and several others who may be there in a year or two, but they can hardly be considered relevant players now.

And of course, Tyson Fury, Deontay Wilder and Tor Hamer have the potential to be major players in a couple of years.

[Chunk..]

Who was the guy who beat Michael Sprott on the undercard? He looked ok.

[The Hammer]

Who was the guy who beat Michael Sprott on the undercard? He looked ok.

Alexander Ustinov.

He could be a real contender, he has a great MMA background, but he came in at his heaviest weight ever. He needs to go down 15-20 pounds so he'll be able to move around a bit faster.

[Fox McCloud]

Denis Boytsov (BoxRec #15) just had a big win over *****ko, he is close to being a relevant player now. Lamon Brewster needs a good win to put himself back into the top ten.

All the others are clearly below that level.

It will be interesting to see how Stefan Kretschmann does against Bakhtov next Friday, he may have some potential. I thought Alexander Ustinov might be ready to soon join the relevant players, but he was overweight and wasn't overly impressive against Michael Sprott yesterday, although he clearly won.

Then there's people like Platov, Pala and Pianeta - they seem to be a bit below world class potential, but who knows, the're young and still improving. Wawrzyk and Helenius do have talent, but need another year or so to develop. In the US there's Chazz Witherspoon, Travis Walker and several others who may be there in a year or two, but they can hardly be considered relevant players now.

And of course, Tyson Fury, Deontay Wilder and Tor Hamer have the potential to be major players in a couple of years.

Good post... thank you for filling in a lot of the mid level gaps.

Who do you think enters the relevant players group first from your list of good fighters who are looking for their breakthrough?

I think fighters like Brewster, Witherspoon and Walker are in trouble because they all suffered pretty serious defeats to fighters who are on the top echelon.

[The Hammer]

Probably Denis Boytsov or Kevin Johnson. Each needs one good win to move into the top group.

If Kevin Johnson defeats Odlander Solis on August 15 on HBO (this fight is in serious discussions), then he will become a relevant player.

[Fox McCloud]

Probably Denis Boytsov or Kevin Johnson. Each needs one good win to move into the top group.

If Kevin Johnson defeats Odlander Solis on August 15 on HBO (this fight is in serious discussions), then he will become a relevant player.

Johnson really changed my mind about him the last time I saw him fight against US Olympian Vargas. He looked really good IMO.

On the other hand, Solis looked terrible, and he killed any hype I had about him.

By the way, I was just thinking about it, and I think Deontay Wilder might be the best American chance in a long time to be an accomplished fighter at heavyweight. How far do you think he'll go?

I certainly think he'll be better than someone like Calvin Brock, who was supposed to do big things, but... didn't.

[Tmann400]

Probably Denis Boytsov or Kevin Johnson. Each needs one good win to move into the top group.

If Kevin Johnson defeats Odlander Solis on August 15 on HBO (this fight is in serious discussions), then he will become a relevant player.

i think johnson will KO solis if they fight...his power is underrated