Wilder vs AJ revisited - who wins in their respective primes?

There's maybe a small window after the Ruiz loss where you might favour Wilder to get to AJ, but that window was slammed shut last night.

 

It was this year Wilder's team for the first time really started push for a fight, wasn't it? I think seeing Joshua against Franklin made them feel he was ripe for the picking.

Because short of Joshua really doubting himself and giving Wilder time and room to throw his haymakers I don't see much chance for him, and I don't think Wilder's and his people did either.

 

Yep. It's like people all of a sudden forgot just how extremely bad Wilder looked in those fights until he managed to land. The only difference to last night was that he finally found a home for his right.

That he didn't last night could have something to do with that his reflexes has detoriated over the last five years, which they must have done to some extent, but also with Parker's very intelligent pressure.

He stayed on the outside and picked his moments to explode and land on Wilder. So Wilder got nothing in between. Ortiz just plodded forward on a single gear with his very slow feet and after a while Wilder finally managed to lock the sights and land, without taking any risks at all before. But that very primitive gameplan just didn't work with someone shifting between gears like Parker.

Fury in the first put zero pressure on Wilder, which gave Wilder the opportunity to unload when Fury tired a bit and lost his concentration somewhat. But Fury did his homework and didn't let Wilder breathe in the rematch.

Yes, 38, being mauled by Fury twice, inactivity, and all that - fine. But Wilder has always showed himself to be vulnerable to educated pressure from a good fighter. That's why he's generally stayed away from them.

 

Pre-Ruiz Joshua knocks Wilder out.

 

A prime AJ damn near kills Wilder.

 

I just wish De Mori had come into the ring on one of those little clown bicycles.