I'm not talking about talent-level or entertainment-value. I'm simply talking resume.
Guys like Joseph Parker, Luis Ortiz, DIlian Whyte etc haven't built up their resumes in the same way Sam Peter, Haye, Chagaev and Valuev did during that 2008-12 period.
If the last crop of guys were so bad, then why are old guys from that era still in the mix?
Povetkin (38), Pulev (36) and Ortiz (38) are all arguably in the current top 5.
And by that same token, why did the younger guys from Lennox Lewis' era end up doing nothing in the mid-to-late 2000s?
Hasim Rahman and Shannon Briggs were lineal champions in what is now considered a golden age for heavyweight boxing.
Guys like Herbie Hide, David Tua and Michael Grant were very much in the mix during that "golden era".
All of those guys were still young enough to be in mix from the mid-to-late 2000s, but they weren't.