Carl Froch rates the heavyweights and lists his personal top 10
Friday 22 January 2016 16:01, UK
It's Carl Froch's turn to nail his colours to the mast and name his top 10 heavyweights in the world today...
After years of stagnation within the heavyweight division, the emergence of a younger generation has breathed new life into what was once the most popular of all weight classes.
There is little doubt who the top spot currently belongs to - Tyson Fury.
He is an unbeaten world champion, who vaulted to the top following a difficult assignment in Germany that few pundits gave him much chance of achieving. Nobody thought he'd disgrace himself by any means, but few had supreme confidence of victory outside the Fury camp. Yet he toppled a dominant pound-for-pound champion in Wladimir Klitschko.
Beating a unified heavyweight champion is tough enough, but to pull off the victory in a boxing fortress like Germany was staggering. Klitschko was a big, strong, intelligent and imposing Alpha male, but it counted for nothing in Fury's mind all the way through the build-up until the final bell.
Fury may not be as manicured or as polished as Klitschko but he can box and move as well as any big man I've seen. At 27 years old, he is still very much a baby in a division where the big men will often continue into their 40s and beyond. While it's premature to say he's unbeatable right now, he's definitely ahead of his peers.
The rest of the top 10 is a little harder to fathom. I think it's only right that Wladimir Klitschko is regarded as No 2 due to the body of work he has amassed in the last decade. So long as he is not blown away by Fury in a rematch, I don't think there would be much argument as to his placing. Some bookies have Wladimir as favourite to gain revenge when they fight again, but it's possible Tyson has his number.
At three, we have to install WBC champion Deontay Wilder. I was ringside on Saturday night to watch him fight Artur Szpilka and he showed me plenty to pick holes in. But all that is forgotten when the opponent is blown away with a big right hand. Wilder has now scored 35 stoppages from 36 victories, so there is absolutely no doubting his punching power.
The only opponent to take him to the final bell was Bermane Stiverne, whom most pundits believed had a superior boxing pedigree. However, they were proven completely wrong as Wilder out-landed the champion about 2 to 1 across the 12 rounds to seize the WBC belt.
So while I saw questionable periods from Wilder at the weekend, he can actually box and move more than he showed us against Szpilka. But I'd still pick both Fury's skill-set and Klitschko's experience over the big-punching Wilder for now.
Beyond the top three, it's difficult weighing actual achievements against those that achieved less but show such promising potential. In Miami-based Cuban southpaw Luis Ortiz, we have a big, strong and tenacious heavyweight who can attack and counter-punch.
He is unbeaten and from the footage I've seen of him, he looks a real handful. Ortiz is 36 years old and seemingly avoided. His world ranking is good after his stoppage win over Bryant Jennings - who took Klitschko the distance in his previous fight - and suddenly you wonder how far he can go?
The others in my top 10 don't really need further comment - we have David Haye who successfully returned from a career-threatening injury to win his comeback fight in the first round, and the tremendous Olympic specimen that is Anthony Joshua.
Anthony is not the finished article by a long stretch, but in terms of potential he's very exciting. Especially when you consider he first began boxing the year I defeated Robin Reid in 2007!
I've pegged Mr Haye behind Mr Joshua for now due to recent activity, but predict that if Haye returns to his old self then the trio of Fury, Joshua and Haye could provide plenty of thrills and spills for UK heavyweight fans.
Anyway, without further ado:-
1: Tyson Fury - 25-0 (ko18)
2: Wladimir Klitschko - 64-4 (ko53)
3: Deontay Wilder - 36-0 (ko35)
4: Alexander Povetkin - 30-1 (ko22)
5: Anthony Joshua 15-0 (15ko)
6: Luis Ortiz - 24-0 (ko21)
7: David Haye - 27-2 (ko25)
8: Bermane Stiverne - 25-2 (ko21)
9: Kubrat Pulev - 22-1 (ko12)
10: Charles Martin - 23-0-1 (ko21)
