Ranking the Best Opponents for Wladimir Klitschko's Next Fight

After 17 title defenses, what’s really left to say?

For anyone with lingering doubt that Wladimir Klitschko has been and remains the world’s best heavyweight fighter, the latest evidence came in the form of previously unbeaten challenger Kubrat Pulev on Saturday afternoon (U.S. time) in Germany.

Pulev was the No. 1 contender of both the IBF and IBO, had won all 20 fights in a five-year professional career and had been knocked down exactly once in 133 in-ring rounds. But, after a five-round annihilation at the fists of Klitschko in Hamburg, Pulev’s loss column now reads “one” and his knockdown total has suddenly quintupled to five.

The last of those knockdowns, courtesy of a perfectly placed left hook, dropped the Bulgarian flat on his back and left him unable to rise before the combination of referee Tony Weeks and Pulev’s own approaching corner personnel signaled the end of the slaughter at 2:11 of Round 5.

It was a dominant performance over a would-be credible challenger that left HBO analyst Max Kellerman, whose network has never been the champion of Klitschko's cause, in verbally concussed awe of what he’d just taken in.

“(Pulev) didn’t have the fight beaten out of him,” Kellerman said. “Wladimir Klitschko simply separated him from his senses. Pulev's brain told his legs, ‘get up,’ but Pulev’s legs couldn’t do it.”

Naturally, the erasure of challenger No. 17 since Klitschko’s IBF/IBO title reigns began eight years ago begins chatter on who might be best suited to become No. 18. Toward that end, we’ve put together our list of prospects and suspects on the next several pages.

Drop in a comment with your own suggestions or drop in to simply critique our picks.

5. Luis Ortiz…NOT!

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One of the things Klitschko has discovered while collecting nearly all relevant sanctioning-body title belts is that each of those bodies has its own rankings and, by extension, its own top-rated challengers.

Stepping into the World Boxing Association’s No. 1 slot as of Sept. 11 was Cuban-born Florida resident Luis Ortiz, whose first-round blowout of Lateef Kayode significantly raised his unbeaten profile and—thanks in no small part to his alignment with Golden Boy Promotions—boosted the chance that he’d be the next of the moderately anonymous ranks to get a mainstream date with the champ.

That prospect was eliminated as of late October, however, when the Nevada State Athletic Commission told ESPN.com that Ortiz’s nandralone level was above-normal in a post-fight drug screen, an infraction that’ll likely prompt a suspension and a removal of Ortiz’s high-rung status in relation to Klitschko.

4. Dereck Chisora/Tyson Fury

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The World Boxing Organization’s top challenger position is now in the possession of 30-year-old British resident Dereck Chisora, but that position will be up for grabs when he faces 26-year-old countryman Tyson Fury in what’s billed as a final WBO title eliminator on Nov. 29 in London.

Translation: The winner gets a Klitschko shot.

Either option would be at least a step up in terms of interest level, thanks to the level of comfort each has shown with a microphone while running up to the late November match. In fact, Fury, while correctly predicting Klitschko’s defeat of Pulev, stated his intention to be the man who’ll eventually end the now-38-year-old’s eight-plus-year title reign.

“This is a new era of heavyweight boxing coming up because the Klitschko era is almost over,” Fury told ESPN’s UK outlet, per Nick Parkinson. “There are a lot of up-and-coming fighters who are ready to take over. The young blood will take over the division. … But Wladimir is older, nearly 40, so you never know. I'm just looking forward to facing the winner.”

3. Shannon Briggs

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The realities are clear.

Shannon Briggs is 42 years old and hasn’t fought a legitimate heavyweight contender since losing to Klitschko’s big brother Vitali via one-sided decision four years ago. And before that, he’d seen a brief hold on the WBO championship belt end with a 2007 loss to Sultan Ibragimov, whom Wladimir whipped in his last U.S. appearance eight months later at Madison Square Garden.

So to suggest that Briggs actually deserves a shot at the biggest prize in the sport is patently ridiculous.

But, this being boxing, the loud-mouthed Brooklyn native has taken his fight to the PR stage, a campaign most recently documented by TMZ and featuring the American traveling across the Atlantic to Saturday’s host nation to mock the champion at both a training session and the official weigh-in.

If sheer publicity seeking determination is the determining factor, the next shot is Briggs’ by default.

2. Bermane Stiverne

Chris Carlson/Associated Press

The WBC unification match that everyone wanted for so many years was clearly impossible as long as the green belt was held by big brother Vitali. But now that the older sibling has retired and the strap is now in possession of Haitian-born Bermane Stiverne, the possibilities are logically endless.

But whether that’ll translate into something in the ring, who knows?

Stiverne's most pressing immediate priority appears to be a match with reigning No. 1 contender Deontay Wilder, whom the WBC has ordered he negotiate with in order to get a fight done. And should the newly turned 36-year-old emerge from that meeting with jewelry in hand, it at least appears his team is interested—particular manager Camille Estephan—in a chance to consolidate all the title claims.

“We’re in the driver’s seat; we can do what we want,” Estephan told the Toronto Sun, reports Steve Simmons. “I believe Wladimir is an easy fight for Bermane. We would like to unify the belts. And if Vitali wants to come out of retirement and do this, we’d do that too.”

1. Deontay Wilder

Ricardo Arduengo/Associated Press

Sure, the aforementioned Stiverne’s got the WBC belt. And so long as he has the WBC belt, he’s presumably the most desirable challenger that a unification-seeking Klitschko could want.

But in reality, it’s Deontay Wilder who’s the most intriguing of the bunch.

While it’s true that for the former U.S. Olympic medalist hasn’t faced the top-flight opposition, he does have the sort of persona and, more importantly, the sort of stat line—32-0, 32 knockouts—that’s bound to bring American television networks to the table if a Klitschko fight is suggested.

If Wilder and Stiverne do get in the ring and Wilder comes away with a belt, an all-belts title match might not be the easiest to make—after all, Wilder is tied in with omnipotent behind-the-scenes operator Al Haymon—but it’ll no doubt generate the sort of focus on the heavyweight division that’s not been seen since it was productively inhabited by guys named Lewis, Tyson and Holyfield.

“...I want that fight, and I’m sure he wants that fight,” Wilder told BoxingScene.com, per Luis Sandoval. “I think that fight’s going to be made. It has to be. I don’t want it to be a question like Mayweather and Pacquiao. I definitely want that fight if he doesn’t retire.”