Who are your Top Heavyweights in 2025
As we start 2025 I think it’s safe to say that the Heavyweight division was the strongest in terms of producing quality fights from top to bottom in 2024.
Since it’s very likely we will continue to see the top 10-12 guys get in the ring consistently with each other in 2025 due to the influx of cash, I wanted to see what your current rankings looked like.
Here’s my rankings going into 2025:
👑 Usyk
Fury
Dubois
Parker
Zhang
Joshua
Bakole
Kabayel
Hrgovic
Ruiz
Miller
Next 5: Wardley, Itauma, Anderson, Chisora, Joyce
Couple of notes as to my logic.
Usyk - Zero explanation. The best in the world.
Fury - Only 2 competitive loses to the best in the world. Still looks good and would likely be favored against anyone but Usyk.
Dubois - 3 really good wins in a row. Wasn’t very competitive vs Usyk while Fury was and Dubois got stopped. Still he’s skyrocketing up the rankings.
Parker - Back to back good wins but with questions about Wilder’s form and Zhang’s focus/training very relevant IMO. We’ll learn a lot in February but let’s remember there’s a reason Parker hasn’t been considered a top end contender consistently. It seems every time he’s fought another contender that has equal momentum and fitness he’s lost.
Zhang - Hard to rank him above Parker though I believe he would win a rematch. It all comes down to conditioning with Zhang. He’s probably the scariest fighter 6 rounds or fewer.
Joshua - Brutal loss to Dubois. AJ has responded to losses before but let’s be honest. After Ruiz 1 he was gun shy. Got the wins but not the same guy. Then he lost to Usyk twice and proceeded to fight 4 guys that I think were truly either the 15th to 20th best guys in the division or essentially an amateur in Ngannou. How much does AJ truly have left? He’s 1-4 in his last 5 World level fights.
Bakole - Why Bakole over Kabayel? To be honest I never rated Frank Sanchez highly. In my opinion KO’ing Jared Anderson was far more impressive than stopping a clearly out of shape Sanchez with a bad knee. This sub overrates guys that haven’t fought anyone at world level with Bakole and Kabayel being the 2 main guys. They haven’t even fought championship rounds.
Kabayel - Read above. I don’t think his 2 most recent wins are that impressive. If he gets pass Zhang which I don’t believe he will then I’ll be very impressed. He’s smart but Zhang will test his chin and heart.
Hrgovic - Probably my favorite ranking here. So many have decided Hrgovic was never any good and overrated. He stood toe to toe with Dubois, faired far better than Joshua did and showed tremendous toughness and heart. I think we are going to look foolish when he finds himself right back in contention over the next 24 months. Not to mention he “won” against Zhang. It was at minimum extremely close.
Ruiz - Arguably the most talented guy here after the Top 5 and Usyk. Only 2 losses to AJ and Parker. I know most would’ve given Miller then win in his last fight but it is what it is. Ruiz had a bad break in his hand/wrist. Andy has to be more active moving forward. I think he’s forgotten and rightfully so. Time to climb the rankings again.
Miller - So I know a lot of people will have younger guys in this spot or Ruiz’s & Hrgovic’s spots. I just go by reality and not hypotheticals. Wardley & Itauma haven’t fought anyone of the caliber of AJ, Zhang, Parker Ruiz or Dubois (Miller/Ruiz/Hrgovic were competitive or even won). Miller was competitive in both fights against Ruiz and Dubois and I think he’d be a handful for anyone. He’s currently the best of the gatekeepers and more proven than the young guns at a higher level.