Tyson Fury’s Top 5 heavyweights today … and mine

Tyson Fury recently revealed his Top 5 heavyweights today on a WBC video.

Tyson Fury recently named his Top 5 heavyweights in a World Boxing Council video.

Here is his list:

No. 1 Tyson Fury
No. 2 Deontay Wilder
No. 3 Anthony Joshua
No. 4 Oleksandr Usyk
No. 5 Dillian Whyte

Reasonable list, but I wonder whether he’s trying to sell his third fight with Wilder by placing him at No. 2, ahead of Joshua.

Here’s my list:

No. 1 Fury
No. 2 Joshua
No. 3 Wilder
No. 4 Whyte
No. 5 Andy Ruiz Jr.

Here are some thoughts.

No. 1: No-brainer. Fury, coming off his knockout of Wilder in their rematch in February, is hands down the top big man today.

No. 2: Wilder can argue that he was stopped by a much better opponent (Fury) than the one who knocked out Joshua (Ruiz). True. However, Joshua bounced back to outpoint Ruiz. He also has a deeper resume than that of Wilder.

No. 3: Wilder shouldn’t be written off because of the setback against Fury, although it will be difficult to reverse that result when they meet for a third time. Otherwise, he has been dominating.

No. 4: Whyte has won 11 consecutive fights since he was stopped by Joshua in December 2015. And he has beaten some good opponents. Among them: Derek Chisora (twice), Robert Helenius, Joseph Parker and Oscar Rivas. Solid resume.

No. 5: Ruiz also shouldn’t be dismissed after his disappointing effort against Joshua in their rematch. The first fight wasn’t a fluke. Ruiz has ability and power. If he can get focused — big IF — he can have more success.

Usyk? I understand why Fury included him in his Top 5. I considered it. The former cruiserweight champ might have the best skill set among all heavyweights. The problem is that he has yet to prove he can beat an elite big man. No one will be shocked if he does, although he’d be at a size disadvantage against many heavyweights.

I also considered Luis Ortiz, a strong, skillful fighter. I couldn’t get past two brutal knockouts against Wilder in his last five fights, though.

And, finally, Kubrat Pulev has a golden opportunity to climb onto this list. All he has to do is beat Joshua whenever they fight.