Not a top dog. Just some ranked a little higher. Parker, Ruiz, Hrgovic, Hunter, Joyce. All Ring ranked top ten opponents. What's the problem? [url]https://www.ringtv.com/ratings/?weightclass=272[/url]
Didn't Wilder fight the best HW in 3 out of his last 4 fights? So, what exactly do you mean, he needs to fight a top guy for a change?
To be fair, this fight is acceptable due to circumstances. But ONLY if Wilder faces a top HW after. OR if he has anther quick turnaround stay-busy fight that DOESN'T count as his two (or one) fight per year.
How many of Parker, Hrgovic, Hunter, Joyce, Ruiz are going to want to face Wilder when he doesn't hold a belt? No offence, but you're a terrible adviser. He would be much better off facing someone like Bryan in his next bout.
True - the first of those 3 was a cherrypick, Fury was in horrible shape and realistically still won, but even calling it two out of his last three sounds good... Until you realize he was thoroughly outclassed in all three Fury fights, despite Fury definitely not being close to fit in #1 and clearly not being 100% in #3 either. My point generally speaking is that Wilder is fast running out of time to build a serious resume that will book him a place in history - losing to Fury three times does nothing to offset the accusations of being a paper champion with a paper thin resume to match, it simply showed where his level certainly wasn't. Bryan does nothing to help towards that serious resume, just as the vast majority of Wilder's other wins are not against opponents worthy of a serious champion - Luis Ortiz is okay but nothing special, a slick Cuban with a gatekeeper level resume, and that's comfortably his best win. Sure, take an easy fight to get back in there... But follow it up quickly with some proper fighters, or forever cement a legacy of beating bums little more.
Have Wilder fight Bryan, Coffie, and Darmani Rock back to back to back in 3 months. I know this ain't gonna happen but it would be good for Wilder (paychecks, activity, confidence)
As much to the point, how many of those guys would Wilder actually be willing to fight, given their relatively unspectacular PPV pulls and whilst all being arguably #1 or #2 best wins on his resume if he does best them, coming off the back of two bad beatings isn't the best time for a good step up. He's much better getting some confidence back... As long as he's going to start stepping up to those kinds of fights pretty soon after - otherwise he might as well retire now.
Wilder, I doubt, is interested in boxing "names" for "record strengthening". He will either want as easy a win as relatively possible, or a title shot. I doubt he is interested in facing diddies like Rice Pudding Jr, Paint Dry Parker, Pudding Pulev etc. Yes, they would be well up on his record, but I doubt he's interested. If I am him, I would happily take on these guys, but I would avoid the likes of unknown quantities like Joyce who pose a legitimate threat. He will take easy knock over jobs until he can get a shot at a belt and that will probably end up being his all or nothing career deciding bout. He may need to wait 2 years minimum.
Depends on how soon after he KO's Bryan he fights again. If he doesn't fight again for 5-6 months then it's a waste of time because Bryan is so bad Wilder could beat Bryan, Stiverne and Kownacki all in 6 months and not break a sweat doing it. While I agree he shouldn't step in with a top guy right away if he's only fighting twice per year then wasting one of those fights on someone as bad as Bryan for me is a waste of his time as it adds nothing to his resume.
Actually, the same can be said about Fury's resume. Since defeating Wlad, he's done nothing special. 7 fights in 7 years. 3 of which are Wilder and Wilder being the best of the bunch. Not impressive at all. To your point, Wilder needs better opposition. He stepped up in Fury, can't get better than that. There is AJ, Chisora, Whyte. He just needs to get the wins that make him financially viable for the top guys to step in the ring with him. A belt is just a little cherry on top.
Not bad matchmaking. He should dispose of Bryan pretty easily. Wilder needs to get his confidence back after coming off 2 stoppage losses.
May seems to be kind of late though. He’ll probably only get one fight in before he turns 37 next year.