Wilder accidentally admitted that he turned down piles of money to fight Joshua, so he is #3 at best, and I agree with Denthead's decision, as he would have been beaten. I'll admit that he would beat last night's Ruiz, but if Ruiz gets his form back, he is the better man, and between Dentay and Usyk, I like Usyk.
Nice try on this one. I’m not sure this makes Wilder any better in anyone’s eyes or in reality. Arreola looked pretty spry in the first few rounds. Fat Andy obviously took off some weight and seemed to be missing his mojo. Maybe he needs to learn how to fight normal obese level versus super obese level. If it doesn’t work, he can always go back to super fat. Gaining weight is easy and fun! Ask me how I know…
Wilder suffered a broken hand AND a torn bicep during the Arreola fight. EITHER injury would cause the halt to many fights. Wilder stopped him. Then had multiple surgeries to repair his injuries. Was out of the ring the rest of the year after that fight. If Wilder was Matthew Saad Muhammad, overcoming TWO injuries like that and winning a title defense by stoppage would be a part of his legend. I never heard one word of that during the hype for this fight when Arreola-Wilder was mentioned or during the telecast last night. If Ruiz had broken his right hand and torn a bicep last night, but actually managed to stop Arreola, THINK WE WOULD'VE HEARD ABOUT IT? (LOL) Brian Kenney would've talked about in the car on the way back to his hotel, all night in bed, when he was having breakfast this morning and to everyone he met today. Also, Wilder DID NOT "go life and death" with Eric Molina. Eric Molina won ONE round out of nine rounds against Wilder (one round on two cards - ZERO rounds on the third). Wilder knocked Molina down FOUR times and stopped him. (And then Joshua signed to fight him - LOL.) Wilder wasn't close to death. It was also Wilder's first fight back after suffering a broken right hand in the first Stiverne fight, which he broke dropping Stiverne. So he was initially hesitant and didn't storm out looking to bomb. Andy Ruiz, dealing with no broken bones and no injuries he needs to recover from, shows up in the best shape of his life last night (STILL HAS a 30 pound weight advantage) and gets dropped in round 2. People say, well, he was off a long time (even though Arreola is 10 years older and was off longer). But we're supposed to cut him slack for that? Wilder was not being outboxed by Szpilka. Again, Szpilka won two of nine rounds. TWO. And Szpilka left the ring on a freaking stretcher. He was out for five minutes. They thought he would die and wanted to observe him overnight. He hasn't been able to take a shot since. How is that a "bad" outing? (I mean, it was bad for Szpilka.) Wilder injures his left bicep during the Fury rematch, can't use the left to set up the right, is left with just trying to land lead rights, which Fury can easily avoid. Takes a huge beating but refuses to quit,has surgery to repair the bicep last year, is throwing it fine, now. But nobody, and I mean NOBODY, brings up Wilder needing bicep surgery after the Fury rematch because that would take away from Fury's win. (Instead, they talk about his costume. Not his bicep SURGERY.) Joshua "has a panic attack" spits out his mouthpiece and quits against Ruiz. Then doesn't have a panic attack in the rematch, and he's supposedly great. I just shake my head at how none of these guys are held to the same standard as Wilder. NONE. When has Joshua or Fury or Ruiz or Parker or any of them suffered an injury during a fight that required surgery to repair? It's happened to Wilder over and over and over again. Not an inch of slack given, but we're supposed to excuse other guys if they get "nervous" or if they lost too much weight. (Wilder hasn't outweighed an opponent in NINE YEARS. Who cares if Ruiz lost too much weight and only outweighed his opponent by 30 pounds instead of more.) The current Ring ratings have Fury as the World Champ. Joshua 1. Wilder 2. Whyte 3. Ortiz 4. Wilder has fought Fury and Ortiz four times and has scored SIX knockdowns against them in the last three years ... While Joshua is going the distance with #5 Parker and LOSING to #6 Ruiz (and both might drop after this weekend) and managed to score only one knockdown, himself. https://www.ringtv.com/ratings/?weightclass=272 And some folks are still going - right, but what about Molina winning one round against him six years ago? Who give a rat's ass about Molina anymore? (LOL) That was back when Joshua was fighting guys like Kevin Johnson. Time moves on. Get over it. Like it's been six years (the Whyte fight was in 2015) since Joshua has actually fought one of the current top heavyweights. * Wilder - In the last three years, FOUR Fights against the current top four heavyweights and six knockdowns scored. * Joshua - In the last three years, NO fights against the top four heavyweights, but a loss to Ruiz (who was unranked when Joshua signed to fight Ruiz and quit against him). Six years since he fought Whyte in a non-title fight. And people actually have the gall to bash Wilder's performances and praise Joshua.
Wilder may not be in the top five and if his mental state is as bad as it seems, maybe not top ten. He is far more vulnerable than he was. Injuries, weak legs, no boxing skills and an embarrassing loss that he has not come to grips with. So far, his confidence has not regrouped enough to fight a tune up much less anybody at the top.
Whole thread is a load of crap started by a moron. Who cares how quickly Wilder stopped a shot Arreola? Kownacki beat Szpilka and Washington much easier than Wilder did then got splattered by an old Helenius. Joshua took out Molina in three (and Arreola took him out in one!) while Wilder took nine rounds and was stiff legged and badly wobbled by a hook in the process. Wanna take a stab at that one OP? What else? Stiverne stopped a younger, more prepared Arreola in six. Wilder could only resort to a corner stoppage in eight against a last minute version coming off a drugs suspension and unofficial loss to Travis Kauffman. Proof of how underrated Stiverne is? Yoka took out Duhaupas in one, Povetkin toyed with him and knocked him unconscious in six. Wilder laboured to a standing ref stoppage in eleven while getting his eye busted up. Ortiz? Well, Ortiz hasn't fought anyone else worth a damn in half a decade so I suppose we can't say too much about that one.
Nice analysis, doc. Wilder can't wait to rematch Fury now that he's all healed up. Wilder had a torn up bicep that required surgery to repair. He's ready to go. Meanwhile, Fury is the guy who was out three years for mental issues and needs a fight really soon before he relapses again ... and Ruiz is the guy who is eating himself to death, trained harder then ever, and got flattened by Arreola, and will likely fall off the wagon again. Wilder is fine.
He was talking about Molina. In that Molina KOed Joshua in five, and not, as everyone else saw, got KOed by him in three. It was a simple correction to a common misunderstanding.
Yes, Arreola had been out of the ring for longer. That’s a good point. But he was highly motivated for this fight. It could even have been the final fight of his career. If not, I’m sure that he’ll retire very soon. So it was a last hurrah. Whereas for Ruiz, it was more of a tune up. He’s still got a decent career ahead of him. We both know that a fighter’s mindset plays a huge role in a fighter’s performance and the outcome of a fight. We’ve seen many examples throughout the years. The result doesn’t really prove anything. It’s not relevant that Wilder knocked out Arreola early. How is that proof of anything? I could say that it took Wilder 9 rounds to knock out Eric Molina, yet Joshua did it in just 3 rounds. You could then come back and say that Wilder beat Brazeale quicker. It means nothing. Anybody can spin the stats in order for it to reflect what they want it to. Hopefully, Wilder can resurrect his career and he’ll be able to fight Joshua at some point.
