Top 5 Most Skilled Heavyweights Today

1. James Toney- Obviously, his skills are undeniable but Im in the majority that thinks he should call it a career. Id like to keep him off him off every heavyweight list but he is still ranked and still has skills. Even though they are diminished he is still ahead of the other heavyweights in terms of ring smarts. You could make a case for the fighters listed below to be ahead of him at this point depending on how diminished you think his skills are.
2. Juan Carlos Gomez- Probably the most skilled current heavyweight but his size puts him at a disadvantage and his skills arent as polished as they were in his younger days at Cruiser. Still a very smart boxer.
3. Wlad- He has a powerful jab and straight right that usually finds its mark. He is a great outside fighter for a man of his size and very accurate. He also knows how to use the ring well and keep his opponents at bay.
4. John Ruiz- As awful as he is to watch, and as much as I hate to admit he is a skilled fighter, he usually fights his fight and takes away his opponents stregnths. His tactics are unpleasant to watch but he knows how to win and what he has to do.
5.Alexander Povetkin- This former Gold Medalist has good skills and is well rounded in pretty much every department. He has solid fundementals and knows how to overwhelm his opponents. He can be outboxed though as we saw in the Chambers fight in spots.

Honerable mentions: Chagaev, Sultan, Arreola, Chambers, Golata, Alex D., and Estrada

I don't think any of those guys are particularly skilful but then there isn't much of a selection at heavyweight.

Toney used to be slick but he's no longer a factor so can't really be included.

Don't see anything special in Povetkin other than a high workrate.

I'll big up my fave heavyweight Tony Thompson, he's pretty slick. Odlanier Solis I still believe will be a big factor in the division too.

Chagaev is a better boxer than Ruiz, so I'd say is Ibragimov and Chambers.

I've not seen enough of Gomez to be able to say.

You know the division is piss poor though when Andrew Golota gets an honourable mention ;D

#1. Wladimir - he's the best and most effective offensive fighter there is in the heavyweight division today


Everyone else either hasn't had the spotlight to show off their skills OR hasn't been consistant.

Eddie Chambers has good effective defense

Cris Arreola is a good pressure fighter and has decent power

Dimitrenko is ok, he is good at fighting tall but doesn't have good power

Sam Peter has decent power but throws wide punches and has no defense.

Alex Povetkin has good basic skills but not much defense

Tony Thompson is as good of a pure boxer as you can get right now in the division

I forgot to mention Tony Thompson. Dumb mistake on my part cause im always saying how people overlook him, and I overlooked him. I think hes fighting Wlad next and Igive him a good chance of pulling off the upset. He may be older but hes looked good in his last few fights.

I know he is past it for the most part and I think there was talk of him dropping down But Chris byrd.......Whatever you think of his style,He is a boxing fool.

Depends really how you define skills... If you are simply talking learned tactics such as the array of punches, defensive stance, slips, rolls, feints, ring tactics, footwork, etc.. Then you could say James Toney still has far more skills than any other HW out therre.. It's not really that his skills are diminished, he still knows what to do, he's just slower, less conditioned, his reflexes have gone. I really have a hard time seeing things like that as skills, and not attributes. Then again by this rationale you could put any number of ancient fighters ahead of the champions of today.. I expect Larry Holmes is still far more skilled than Wlad, or Chagaev, by my thinking. I just see a fighter being shot, as no longer able to apply his skills, not neccesarily not having them.

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Originally Posted by p4pking

Depends really how you define skills... If you are simply talking learned tactics such as the array of punches, defensive stance, slips, rolls, feints, ring tactics, footwork, etc.. Then you could say James Toney still has far more skills than any other HW out therre.. It's not really that his skills are diminished, he still knows what to do, he's just slower, less conditioned, his reflexes have gone. I really have a hard time seeing things like that as skills, and not attributes. Then again by this rationale you could put any number of ancient fighters ahead of the champions of today.. I expect Larry Holmes is still far more skilled than Wlad, or Chagaev, by my thinking. I just see a fighter being shot, as no longer able to apply his skills, not neccesarily not having them.

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You have a good point, I guess it depends how you look at it. I meant skills at this moment. For example Tyson lost his skills but he was a skilled fighter. His skills, as are most fighters, start from the mind and sent the signal of what to do to the body. If you skills are no longer in your mind and you slip mentally you body is fighting off of instinct more than skills, imo. Im not even sure if that makes sence though. Sh@t I need an excedrin :-\

Wladimir Klitschko

David Haye?

Povetkin

Chambers

Gomez

David Haye is the man with the skills.

Mike Perez is a recently debuted heavy with serious skills, but he's small,