How would a 43 year old Wladimir Klitschko do if he returned?

[EasternEuroFan]

He wasn’t. He was completely shot of confidence, and couldn’t pull the punches anymore. I found it painful to watch tbh. An anywhere near prime Wlad would’ve beaten AJ easily. The writing was on the wall after Fury schooled him two years earlier, he looked terrible that night and even looked very poor against Bryant Jennings 6 months before that.
This delusional narratives spun by Sky/Matchroom that Wlad was still an elite level force at 41 yrs old, 18 months inactivity and coming off a humiliating loss is complete and utter BS!

Well said, i can't even believe people buy into this whole thing that Wlad was better than when he faced Fury. No man gets better at 41 with 18 months inactivity.

The fact that he was competitive with AJ is because AJ's style was tailor made for Wlad, but he was just a bit too over the hill to finish the job.

AJ and his style would've been a handpicked opponent for Wlad a few years earlier. That was Wlad's bread and butter at one point, a big stiff robot that moves in straight lines and a sitting duck for a right hand and jab.

The Wlad that faced Pulev and before that would've annihilated AJ in about 5 rounds. I'd say even the Wlad that faced Fury would have, but Fury got in his head and unsettled him in the ring too with movement and made him lose confidence. If AJ had been in that ring instead of Fury, Wlad would've done a job on him.

[JimRaynor]

He'd have a tough time beating the top 3, all of whom I'd favor over him, as well as Usyk. Everyone else he beats, which goes to show you how good he really was that at 43 he could do that.

[Boxing Goat]

I completely agree that he's had a great career and he should stay retired and enjoy life with Hayden but the Klitschko that fought AJ was still a top three heavyweight that would've destroyed everybody else in the division outside of Fury.

Lol! They've been broken up for over a year now.

[boliodogs]

Even if he trains hard he will still get a bit worse every year because 43 is really old for a boxer and everybody loses some ability year after year at that age. This can be shown by long distance runners as they get older. They train very hard but their times get a bit slower every year. Wlad could still probably beat some contenders but he couldn't beat AJ or Fury before so he would do worse against them now. If he can't beat the best why come back? He is a very rich man who is set for life so why risk injury by returning to the ring?

[BigZ44]

I'd put him 3rd tentatively, always thought he was the worst possible matchup for Wilder. He'd keep him on the jab, lean in and clinch whenever Wilder wants to throw and eventually put those straight rights behind the jab and clean his clock.