We have to appreciate prime Deontay Wilder was one of the hardest hitters in boxing history

Hes a hard hitter just as Ngannou is. He defeated none. His resume is poor.

 

I'm not sure where Wilder ranks historically across all weight classes. It's hard to compare fighters across different weight classes especially compared to a heavyweight. All I know is Wilder is without a doubt one of the biggest punchers in the history of boxing. In terms of strictly heavyweight, he's top 5 for me.

I know there's this narrative around that Wilder's power is overrated and he just knocked out cans. It's not just about Wilder getting knockouts. It's how he is knocking people out. He's put men to sleep on multiple occasions. He hit another guy so hard he may have had a seizure in the ring. He sent a fighter out the ring in a stretcher. He did all of this by being a relatively small heavyweight weight wise. His power is special. People need to stop denying it. Pretty much everyone he's been in the ring with says he hits extremely hard. The one's who didn't (Stiverne & Spzilka) were knocked out cold. Even Zhang said he felt Wilder's power and he knew he couldn't get hit by it again. That's someone who was significantly bigger than Wilder. Wilder is one of the biggest punches this sport has seen. It shouldn't be a question at this point.

 

Never knocked out anybody of note in his entire career. That’s quite telling for the supposed ‘hardest puncher of all time.’ Every time he stepped up against a live opponent it was nowhere to be seen.

 

He punches hard, alright, but he has nothing on Shavers and Foreman. His resume is filled with no-hopers and tomato cans whom Zhang, Dubois, Joshua, Jalolov, or any other big punchers would have knocked out just the same. Whenever he was faced with anyone with a pulse and decent skills, his power was apparently not that great after all. Fury has a glass chin, so he dropped him several times, of course, but that doesn't change anything. A big puncher for sure, but nowhere near the biggest puncher in history—that was always just internet talk based on a very selective and poor resume fought against nobodies.

 

Earnie shavers was never even a world champ

 

pretty sure he could have beaten Bermane Stiverne to be one

 

He was a massive puncher but his power didn't come from being strong. It was his speed, leverage, reflexes and fast twitch muscle fibres which made him deadly.

That's why his punching power was totally gone in his last 2 fights, it didn't come from strength and the above mentioned attributes are depleted at 38yr old.

Zhang is a different beast altogether. Naturally heavy handed with concrete blocks in both gloves.

 

We can still see his power regardless of opponent surely.

The force which he took out Ortiz and Brezeale is not something we’ve seen other fighters do to them.

 

But you could argue, how did Molina keep getting up and last as long as he did when Arreola sparked Molina in 1 rd.

How about Arreola himself, dropped but got up and kept fighting until he simply quit, so wasn't KO'ed. While Stiverne properly stopped him.

Then we have Duhaupas, went 11 rounds with Wilder, never off his feet but KO'ed by Povetkin.

He also hit Fury with his best shots in 3 fights and never had Fury as badly hurt as Usyk did in rd 9.

 

And the we have Szpilka, with a chin of shatter-glass... And how long does that take?

Ultimately, the crap level of his opposition counts for a lot.

He hit hard, but he also threw his full weight into reckless full-power punches with both feet planted - yes, quickly, but miss with that kind of throw and you're wide open to counter...
You can't risk that kind of commitment when you're fighting guys who can see it coming and use it against you - but when you're fighting primarily slow plodding bums or guys with limited power, you can risk it and you can get spectacular knockouts for the highlight reel.

Just look at Joshua - that punch against Ngannou was massive... But how often can he afford to throw something quite that hard?
Not often... Because even his recent mediocre opposition is better than Wilders title run.

 

https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/mount-rushmore-of-hw-punchers.709690/
I guess Wilder's last two losses (Parker and Zhang) move Wilder out of the #3 HW puncher spot.

 

Wilder hasn't got a single good win on his record, not a single one.

 

He didn’t though did he?
He lost when he stepped to world level.

 

Are we really comparing Stiverne to Ali and Holmes lol.

Wilder would have never been a title holder had he faced someone as good as Ali or Holmes for a title shot.

 

excellent take.