Pulev is third best heavyweight in the world right now. Wlad is first and Povetkin second. Wilder is a bum and great black dope and I hope Stiverne exposes the fraud. After that, Pulev or Povetkin need to go after that belt.
I agree that Klitschko and Povetkin are the clear #1 and #2 at heavyweight.
Pulev is probably next but I think Tyson Fury also deserves a shout as he's competently beaten very good opposition (Chisora, Johnson, Cunningham). In fact, as I recall, Fury won a WBC eliminator some years back, I believe his fight with Kevin Johnson, and should have earned the right to challenge for the WBC belt but somehow that didn't come about and it ended up being contested by Stiverne and Arreola. Stiverne is probably the #5 guy. So for me, Pulev is 3 or 4.
Wladimir has been in these matchups before. He stopped Chris Byrd, Calvin Brock, and Ruslan Chagaev, and at the time of those fights those opponents were top-3ish guys at heavyweight. When Wlad beat Haye and Povetkin they were both the clear #2 guy.
Here's a video of the weigh in followed by intense staredown;
[video=youtube;iZ6POcM4mWk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZ6POcM4mWk[/video]
Wladimir is such a boss, shaking everyone's hand at the weigh in and waving to people. Just another day in the life for the champ.
I know I said Pulev has a 10% upset chance but watching the weigh in, you get the impression he has no chance. Wladimir always trains very hard and if he's at his best this will probably be a walk in the park.