The division isn't too bad right now, although I think Povetkin is going to get taken out soon.
People forget how bad the division was before Wlad took over.
Vitali was generally perceived as the best fighter, but kept getting injured every time he started training for his mandatory, Hasim Rahman. And then retired multiple times. Ruiz...less said the better. He was a byword during that era for gratuitous clinching, and his trilogy with Holyfield was allegedly excruciating. (I never watched it myself, I admit.) RJJ got a belt and then left the division. Toney got a belt, got stripped for steroid use, and spent the rest of the period getting more and more overweight.
Chris Byrd had great technical gifts, but he was small and boring despite his best efforts to spice things up with the occasional showboating. He squeaked by on very close decisions, a bit like a 2000s Jimmy Young. And Holyfield stuck around long past any hope of regaining a championship...until a 45 year old version fought a prime Valuev basically to a draw.
Meanwhile, Brewster was the highlight for a while -- his fight with Wlad, followed by the Krasniqi slugfest, put him high on the list -- but he fought too many wars, and burned out so badly that he lost to Liakhovich. Who in turn got squashed by an asthmatic Briggs would could *barely* force his body to throw the 12th round punches that put a helpless Liakhovich away.
By contrast, 2018 has a decent pool of contenders. Assuming Joshua and Wilder eventually fight, it might even live up to its potential. At the very least, we only have two beltholders instead of 4, and the prospects for unification look a lot rosier.
I think the Wlad era improved from the mid-2000s nadir as it went along, although it was bland. The current era is pretty decent all things considered. I should probably follow it more closely than I do.
