With the heavyweight division alight with numerous events past and future, all eyes are on who will and who won't keep their seats at the upper echelon of the division.
Former world lightweight division champion Jim Watt MBE and former world cruiserweight champion Johnny Nelson pool their bets on Sky Sports for the best of the best among the current fighters in the heavyweight division. Here are the top four from their list.
#1 Tyson Fury - 25-0-KO18
Tyson Fury did what neither Pulev nor Povetkin could. Fury's win against former Numero Uno Wladimir Klitschko gained him the street cred to be the new Number One. His heavyweight title rematch with Klitschko in May is one of the most anticipated events of 2016.
#2 Wladimir Klitschko - 64-4-KO53
Fans are looking for Wladimir Klitschko to recoup old glory and take his title back. Feedback is mixed on what the outcome for the rematch between Tyson Fury and Wladimir Klitschko will be. The louder camp, though, believes that Klitschko has had his time and he won't be able to climb back to number one.
In Watt's words what Klitschko is missing is confidence. "He can't get any worse but the trouble with Klitschko is that he had no confidence whatsoever in his own punch resistance. Technically there is no reason he can't beat Fury but he's too scared to take a chance. I don't think he'll be moving back up."
#3 Deontay Wilder - 36-0-KO35
Deontay Wilder is unbeaten and going strong. Technically, Wilder can skip his mandatory match with Alexander Povetkin. However, Deontay Wilder is quite keen to get pitted against Povetkin and prove his mettle. Tyson Fury also challenged Wilder and it looks like the match, which has been four years in the making, is going to be happening. Manchester, Fury's turf, will personally see of this list's Number Three will beat out Number One. As Parent Herald reported, Wilder's promise for Fury is pretty dire. "I'm going to want to really, really hurt him," Wilder declared.
#4 Alexander Povetkin - 30-1-KO22
With his only loss dished out by Wladimir Klitschko and being Deontay Wilder's mandatory match for the WBC title, many stand behind Povetkin to bring it with Wilder. Boxing Scene reports that Povetkin himself seems very casual about going against Deontay Wilder commenting that Wilder has a good punch but not a lot of strategy.
Boxing Scene says that Artur Szpilka credits Wilder's win against him to a broken hand. "[Alexander] Povetkin will kill him."
