I don't think heavyweights are more impressive at all. Sure, they are stronger, but as far as boxing skill, the lower divisions contain heaps more and are more competitive. By nature of their size, heavyweights are slower, have much lower punch outputs, less movement, more clinching, and basically can knock each other out with any power punch. Their division also has little talent compared to previous decades when it was the top division in the sport.
Wladimir is a physical specimen, he's huge and ripped, but he's fighting at a time when there aren't many good boxers at his weight class. (He also has stuck to generally only fighting in Germany.) And I believe he would lose if there were. He never fought a Lennox Lewis, a Holyfield, hell even a Tyson. Look at his opponent record. I saw his last fight with Jennings(first in the US in some time), and it wasn't anything to marvel at. He still has a suspect chin, which he changed his style around after he lost with KO's earlier in his career. There are some promising opponents for him, Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury specifically. Also, his retired brother was considered a better boxer.
I get the attraction to the heavyweights, I think they're a natural draw -the biggest strongest guys fighting each other. But I think if you watched a bunch of other fighters at the lower levels you'd end up forgetting about heavyweights soon enough.
Two of the most exciting to watch, and I don't mean from a boxing nerd perspective, who hit like sledgehammers and are also technically good, are Golovkin and Kovalev.
Golovkin:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnfUExzL79g
Kovalev:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22owaSnsb54
Hopefully they'll blow up in popularity beyond boxing nerds and casual fans. From what's out there, they're both good likable guys outside of the ring and Golovkin even has the charisma to be a star.
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Shim, Mayweather got robbed in that fight. Atlanta olympics iirc. He turned pro right after it.
From the other side, there was a good article in the NYT about Todorov's life since that fight.
