Usyk, Dubois, Fury, Joshua, Wilder: Ranking this generation's heavyweights

If the forthcoming fight between Oleksandr Usyk and Daniel Dubois, live this weekend on DAZN PPV, represents anything, it may be something of a requiem for this generation of heavyweights: as the clock ticks in 2025, the cohort of big men who have dominated the sport’s highest division may be readying their horses to ride off into the sunset.

It has been a golden period of many and one that may be looked back upon with greater fondness in hindsight.

The decade began with Tyson Fury’s victory over Wladimir Klitschko in Dusseldorf in 2015, when the UK fighter travelled to Germany and dethroned the long-time heavyweight king over twelve rounds. Klitschko had acted both as his own era’s flagship heavyweight – alongside his own brother, Vitali – and as its bridge from one generation to the next.

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While Fury was lost for three years in his own demons, other heavyweights came to the fore: Joshua, Wilder, Parker, Usyk. For a decade, these fighters swapped victories, defeats, and titles.

Now, in 2025, those fighters are ageing. Fury is 36 and has retired multiple times but plans another comeback next year; Wilder is 39, and seemingly at the end of his career, despite the quick victory a few weeks ago; Joshua, aged 35, desperately needs a win after being bombed out by Daniel Dubois last September; Parker, the one man that can never be counted out, is 33. Usyk is 38 and has made noises about only having two more fights.

Alongside the champions were the contenders, the ones who challenged for championships, often multiple times. Some even held championships, but struggled to be called champions. But they, too, are ageing: Dillian Whyte is 37; Mahmoud Charr, 40; Kubrat Pulev, 44; Carlos Takam, 44; Andy Ruiz, 35; Derek Chisora, 41.

Of all the big men of the era, who was the best?

Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing

5 - Joseph Parker, 36-3 (24)

Still only 33, former WBO champion Joseph Parker is still hanging in the heavyweight division. Despite his credentials, Parker has always remained on the right-hand side of the card in his fights. After winning the vacant WBO title against Andy Ruiz in 2016, Parker made defences against Razvan Cojanu and Hughie Fury in 2017, before losing in a unification fight against Anthony Joshua in 2018 in Cardiff.

After losing to Dillian Whyte in his next bout, Parker has hovered around the heavyweight division, beating a run of lower-ranked opposition such as Alex Leapai and Junior Fa, while taking routine wins over contenders such as Derek Chisora (twice) and a surprise victory over Deontay Wilder.

A loss to Joe Joyce by knockout in 2022 seemed to have removed Parker from all consideration, but the wins over Wilder and Zhilei Zhang in 2023 and 2024 have allowed him to stay within consideration as a contender.

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4 - Deontay Wilder, 44-4-1 (43)

While the Alabama native rivals Earnie Shavers for one-shot power, he also possesses the same weakness as the former contender: the better heavyweights can knock him out if they can walk through his fire.

Wilder can also be too wild with his punches – witness his knockout of Audley Harrison in Sheffield when Wilder threw himself off-balance with one shot.

After carving his way through the division, Wilder found himself held to a draw by a comebacking Fury.

Fury did better in their second and third fights, knocking Wilder out each time. Losses to Parker and Zhilei Zhang since then have tarnished his reputation further, exposing Wilder as nothing much more than a fighter with one devastating right hand.

But what a right hand!

Mark Robinson

3 - Anthony Joshua, 28-4 (25)

There may have been no more impressive prospect than Anthony Joshua on his way to a world title.

The problem, however, seems to be that his promoters rushed him. When he fought Prince Charles Martin in 2016, Joshua had only 15 professional fights on his slate.

If Martin was not the one to challenge that unbeaten run, it would be the fighters that came after him.

Despite beating Martin in two, Dominic Breazeale in seven, and Eric Molina in three, it was the eleven-round slugfest with Wladimir Klitschko that earned Joshua his anointment as heavyweight champion of the world.

It also proved, in some ways, to signal his decline. Wins over late-substitute Carlos Takam, Joseph Parker, and Alexander Povetkin looked good, but some of the fire of the early days was gone.

Joshua looked complacent against Andy Ruiz in 2019, and it showed with a loss in seven rounds. Afterwards, the light appeared to dim a little more and Joshua retreated a little further into himself, outpointing Ruiz in the rematch, then stopping the overrated and overachieving Kubrat Pulev in nine.

Usyk befuddled Joshua twice, outpointing him each time and while Joshua looked good against Robert Helenius, Otto Wallin, and Francis Ngannou, the loss to Dubois seems to have heralded his end. Perhaps the biggest disappointments of Joshua’s career were the fights he did not have against Fury and Wilder.

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2 - Tyson Fury, 34-2-1 (24)

Fury has the distinction of being both the lineal champion and someone who was on the sidelines for three years of this golden decade of heavyweight boxing.

After beating Klitschko in 2015, it was another three years before Fury came back into the ring and he worked himself back into championship status by drawing with, then defeating, WBC champion Deontay Wilder.

If one particular Ukrainian had not been in the division, then it is easily perceivable that Fury would be remembered as the greatest heavyweight of his era. Victories over Dillian Whyte and Derek Chisora look less in hindsight, but they look less because Fury made them appear that way.

Losses to Oleksandr Usyk have done little to dent Fury’s reputation. Although it is noticeable that a fight between he and Joshua never took place, despite their standing in the UK. Such a bout at this late stage in their careers would do little to serve either legacy.

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1 - Oleksandr Usyk, 23-0 (14)

There is an argument to be made that Usyk may be the greatest fighter over 190lbs in history. His unifying and clearing out the cruiserweight division is arguably a better achievement than Holyfield’s doing of the same thirty years before due to this being the four-belt era and not the two-belt era of 1990s.

As a heavyweight, Usyk did things the old-fashioned way. He travelled to beat Anthony Joshua on points in London, before repeating the feat in Saudi Arabia less than a year later.

He beat Daniel Dubois in nine rounds, a feat he will try to do once more this weekend, before taking two decisions over Tyson Fury.

The biggest positives in Usyk’s placement are his unbeaten record, his ability to fight and beat anyone on points, his willingness to travel, and the fact that he has often given up tremendous deficits in weight and height when facing his opponents.

A longer run at heavyweight might solidify his place in history, but he also beat five cruiserweight champions, and handily.

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Despite his age and his relatively short record, there is no reason to not put Usyk on top of the pile for his generation. The question is which fighter on this list has beaten him. The answer, simply, is ‘none of them’.

Usyk vs Dubois 2 only on DAZN

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