In 2011, Bleacher Report predicted the next 10 heavyweight fighters to lead boxing into the new golden age.

Nine years on, GiveMeSport has decided to take a look at what happened to these heavyweights and whether or not they lived up to their potential.

10. Richard Towers

The giant from Sheffield is first on the list and was a latecomer to the sport having previously served six years in prison for his part in a gang’s kidnapping.

Standing at six foot eight, Towers turned professional in 2009 and by 2011 had notched up 10 straight wins.

The highlight of his career proved to be winning the EBU European Title against Gregory Tony in 2012, but ultimately lost to the Australian fighter Lucas Browne a year later in Hull.

The Inferno has since retired and ended his career with a record of 14 wins and just the one loss.

9. George Foreman III

Next on this list is the second son of former heavyweight champion George Foreman.

By 2011, he had racked up an impressive 12 straight wins. The American, however, would only box another year before retiring in 2012 with a perfect record of 16-0.

Foreman III has since gone on to open up a luxury gym in Philadelphia called 'Everbodyfights', and plans to open up a further two gyms in Chicago and Lexington in the next few years.

8. Thabiso Mchunu

The now 32-year-old South African boxer is the first of our still active fighters on the list.

Nicknamed ‘The Rock’, Mchunu turned professional at the age of just 19. Back in 2011 he was likened to that of David Haye, a small lightening fast heavyweight. The following year, however, Mchunu dropped down to the cruiserweight division where he has won African Cruiserweight titles.

Ultimately, he came up short against the now formidable Oleksandr Usyk when challenging for the WBO Cruiserweight title in 2016.

Mchunu currently has a fighting record of 22 wins and five losses.

7. Edmund Gerber

The German fighter had a strong amateur career, winning a European Junior bronze medal in 2006 before turning professional in 2007.

Subsequently, he went on to rack up 16 wins by 2011. Since then, however, he lost to Dereck Chisora in five rounds for the European Heavyweight crown and ended up retiring in 2013 with a record of 23 wins and two defeats.

6. David Price

The second Brit to be listed is six-foot-eight David Price.

He entered the professional arena following an outstanding amateur career where he won bronze at the 2008 Olympics and captured gold at the Commonwealth Games back in 2006. Justifiably, back in 2011, he was touted for big things, however, despite holding the British and Commonwealth titles between 2012 and 2013, he ended up being derailed by American veteran Tony Thompson twice.

Price also suffered high profile losses against Christian Hammer, Alexander Povetkin and Sergey Kuzmin, and following his latest defeat against Chisora, it appears highly unlikely that he will live up to the billing of being a future world heavyweight champion

5. Andrzej Wawrzyk

The Polish heavyweight is next on the list. By 2011, he had managed 21 victories, although only 10 of them were knockouts.

The next few years brought more success, however, for Wawrzyk, with his only defeat coming against Russian heavyweight Alexander Povetkin.

Wawrzyk was scheduled to fight Deontay Wilder for the WBC heavyweight title, but failed a drug test in 2016 and has subsequently retired.

4. Tyson Fury

Where to start!

Undeniably he has justified his billing as a future top 10 heavyweight by firstly defeating the formidable Wladimir Klitschko and winning three of the four world titles.

Following a period out of the sport because of mental health issues, ‘The Gypsy King’ has gone on to have two terrific battles with Deontay Wilder, which ended in the Brit capturing the only world title belt he had yet to win earlier this year.

3. Mike Perez

The Cuban Mike Perez is next up, and by 2011, he had won 16 fights and bore a striking resemblance to that of ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson.

Unfortunately for the Cuban, he did not achieve near the level of success that Tyson managed and has since lost a title eliminator against Povetkin in 2015.

Perez did, however, fight for the WBC Cruiserweight crown that he subsequently lost to Latvian fighter Mairis Briedis.

2. Denis Boytsov

The explosive Russian was listed at number two back in 2011 and had an impressive record of 28-0.

Injuries would, however, go on to hamper his career and he ended up in an artificial comma following a vicious attack in Germany.

His boxing career ended with a record of 36 victories and just one defeat.

1. Deontay Wilder

The ‘Bronze Bomber’ rounds off the top 10 and his career has certainly been impressive having held the WBC belt for a five-year period.

His only career defeat came at the hands of Tyson Fury earlier this year and a trilogy fight between the pair looks likely to take place later this year.