Having only played it for about 2 hours competitively I can't say for sure.
Two things I do agree with though...
'Gief being top 5 is believable, he is a fucking BEAST in SF4, fucking beast!
I'm a Claw player, have been since Champion Edition, and I've played every iteration of SF competitively in the arcades, and this is one of the weakest he's ever been. His damage ratios are so fucked up, and his speed isn't enough to compensate with the way this game plays. Winning with Claw is harder than its ever been.
I might start playing Boxer again now that Claw is so underpowered. Shitty Super they stuck him with, he deals almost no damage, takes a ton, and his speed isn't noticeably a factor in SF4...fucking sucks to be a Claw player now