I understand where you are coming from, and Ortiz is a top 10 guy for sure. I think where you are getting push back on this is, that is where the recognized names he has KO'd ends, and where his high KO ration comes from. He just hasn't fought the best guys, and hey maybe he will maintain that high ratio! But just look at some of the names Tyson fought. Berbick, Holmes, Spinks, Bruno, Ruddock, Holyfield, Golota, Lewis, those names will resonate through boxing history. Wilder has 2 names (maybe 3 with a past-it Arreola) that people may remember over the boxing years, Fury and Ortiz, and he KO'd 50% of those names.
When Wilder KOs his opponent it seems like he loads up with everything he has. Mike Tyson was crumbling opponents from regular shots eg Botha crumbled from a regular short right from Tyson. I am sure a regular short right from wilder would not have done the same to Botha.
Time will tell, his career is far from over and I expect a few more scalps on his list. A Whyte, Parker, Ruiz, Fury or AJ scalp should do the trick. Easy to compare someones legacy to someone who is still on the job. Tyson got the opponents for sure, but just in terms of how the punch is thrown is where i draw my opinion from.
I think what people dont take into account is how the opponents trained back then. They sparred harder than a lot of their fights. Just need to look at old footage of sparring etc. These guys built up a resistance to getting punched. They also learned to ride shots better etc. The guys nowadays dont spar quite the same. The bodies not used to being hit like wilders hitting them. Tyson hits a lot harder....but you knew it was coming. Wilder uses the element of surprise. As everyone knows its the ones you dont see that knocks you out.
How would George Foreman know how hard Tyson punched? He never fought Tyson, he even came out a few weeks ago and openly admitted he DUCKED Tyson. how can you respect the opinion of a man like that?
Right now Wilder needs better fights and I don't think beating Tyson fury will prove much. Tyson fury looked like crap in his last fight and is sliding rapidly. I wouldn't be surprised if fury gets stopped early.
My thing with Tyson was, he lost to both the top guys in his division (Lewis and Holy). While he has good opponents, he didn't fight the big fighters on the list like Holy or Lewis. He didn't fight Bowe, Morrison, Golota, Mercer, or even Tua. His resume doesn't have all the elite of his time. KO's over those guys would've made his resume unquestionable. He didn't even go against Foreman, but i think foreman didn't want that fight not Tyson
Watch the Ortiz right hand, look like he barely tried, and it still made ortiz's head snap back. If Moorer could hurt Botha, Wilder would obliterate him.
This is true. But he didn't have the opportunity to fight the majority of those guys. It's just down to circumstances. But who has Wilder fought? He's fought nobody on the level of Evander and Lennox, and even Bowe, Morrison and Mercer are better than most of the guys he's fought. If he fought Mike's opponents, I'm sure he'd have a few losses on his resume which would obviously affect his knockout percentage.
Unfair to compare Wilder's opponents to ATG's though. Look at the era we are in, got some great fighters but nothing says ATG for me at the moment. I agree though Bowe, Morrison and Mercer are better, but they were seriously good fighters. Mike had good opponents but the ones he beat weren't ATG or in their prime. Not his fault Holmes got old though. Wilder's resume isn't great but Mike's wasn't the best either. Lennox had the best resume in that era by far
Of course. That goes without saying. But the point I was making, is that you can't say it's Wilder based purely on his statistics. He's going to have a higher knockout percentage because he's fought less career fights against lesser fighters.