In Ovett's pb of near 1:44 flat, he slows down at least twice in the final 200m. As he himself admitted, he wasn't even paying attention to Beyer and focusing entirely on Coe. After passing Coe (after apparently dealing with Beyer) he starts to slow down until noticing Beyer going past him. Ovett was good for at least mid 1:43 that day, and I doubt if he was as in good 800 form as in Moscow two years later.
I don't think we did get to see what Ovett could do. I don't think he ever tried to run a fast 800m for the sake of it, and most of his 800m races were either fairly low key or at major championships. At LA in 84, he climbed out of the hospital bed, way below his best (and nearly 30) and ran 1:44 to superhumanly qualify for the Olympic final.
As far as the 1500m is concerned, most agree Ovett was capable of sub 3:30 anytime between late 77 and 81. Again, he never really tried for a fast time until 79 and even then I suspect he never wanted to blow the 1500m WR out of the water because he was getting a bonus every time he even attempted the 1500 WR.
At the end of the day, although a hugely talented runner, Wheating's pbs were over half a second slower than Ovett's, facing better (doped up) competition and I guess slightly better tracks.
Steve Ovett's 800m UK GB U18 record has only now been broken by Max Burgin, after nearly half-a-century. Ovett was the top 400m junior in GB once whilst competing at the top of the English schoolboys cross country. By 22, when Wheating's pb was 1:45, Ovett's was 1:44.0 and was denied the European championship double only by doped up Beyer. Many think he would have been capable of sub 3:29 in 1978, let alone 3:30.
Ovett was arguably the greatest natural young talent middle-distance has ever seen. To say Wheating was the better talent is extraordinary. You do come out with some quite ridiculous things here.