Who was more protected ? AJ or Wilder ?

Wilder by far, AJ actually fought decent opposition and tried to unify several times.

 

Wilder was more protected for more of his career. However, prior to Joshua beating Wlad, Wilder had the stronger record (38-0, 5 defences, with wins over Stiverne, Duhaupas, Szpilka, Arreola and Washington vs 18-0, 2 defences, with wins over Kevin, Whyte, Martin, Breazeale and Molina). Wilder stepped up to top 5 level in 2018; about 10 months after Joshua did.

There is a key factor that can't be overlooked though: Joshua and Hearn wanted the Wilder undisputed fight less than Wilder and Finkel. They tried to age the 4 years older Wilder out while getting Joshua more experience. It blew up in their faces when Ruiz exposed him.

 

Yeah this...

 

People forget that Wilder signed to fight Povetkin in 2017 in Moscow. Fight cancelled because Povetkin popped.

 

This content is protected

 

Will be funny if they both get a final retirement fight against each other where Wilder for the most part is behind on the cards till he lands a lucky bomb.

 

AJ shouldn't get any credit for "fighting" Parker. That fight was a complete joke, any time Parker got in close and looker to unload the ref would jump in between them.

To be clear I think AJ would have had the better of those exchanges, but it was still a level of corruption that meant the fight was never going to be competitive. Parker's only chance was a hail Mary punch from 2 metres away.

 

When Joshua goes 12 straight years being the lighter man in the ring giving up weight to everyone he fights...then my vote goes to Wilder.

Until then, Joshua was more protected.

In Wilder's only losses he gave up either 40 or close to 80 pounds to world-class opponents.

Joshua was the bigger guy against most people he fought, including to most of the guys he lost to.

Fans on this board still don't appreciate the fact that Wilder became one of the biggest punchers in heavyweight history giving up weight to EVERYONE he fought for 12 straight years.

It's unheard of in boxing history, really.

Name another who was the lighter man in every fight for 12 years?

He was nearly always at disadvantage.

People are shocked when they see him in person and how his legs are like toothpicks, yet he wasted big heavys for years to the point they either ducked him or took peds (and got caught) to help them try beat that stringbean.

 

Its Wilder but by a very small margin.

 

Both were cleverly managed and protected but Wilder more so.

That said, both camps should share the blame for Joshua-Wilder never happening. They both lied at various stages.

 

Wilder fought in the same division as Beterbiev and Usyk as an amateur. He would've faced Usyk in the 2008 Olympic semifinals if Usyk hadn't lost in the quarterfinals.

Had Wilder ACTUALLY been protected, his team would've matched him against old light heavys and small cruiserweights for the majority of his career, like Beterbiev and Usyk's managers did for the bulk of their pro careers.

Wilder's team would've made sure he entered the ring for most of his career as the heavier man by 5 or 10 pounds, if not more, all the time ... like the managers of most top heavyweights do.

Protected fighters don't get thrown in with guys who have often ridiculous weight advantages every time out for 12 years in a row.

Beterbiev and Usyk didn't give up 20, 40, 60, 80, 100+ pounds to ALL their opponents for a decade-plus.

Giving up all that weight for every fight year after year takes a toll. Wilder has had too many post-fight hand, shoulder and bicep surgeries to count.

Still, Wilder koed everyone he fought for nearly a decade.

He engaged in 13 heavyweight title fights, made 10 successful heavyweight title defenses and was NEVER the bigger man. EVER. In any title fight. Or non-title fight for 12 years running.

It was an incredible achievement. Most prey on much lighter opponents and use their weight to their advantage. Most fighters could never do what Wilder accomplished, and that's why really none have.

They couldn't handle it psychologically, let alone physically.

Hell, Joshua gave up 40+ pounds to Ruiz ONCE and ran for his freaking life he was so terrified.

 

They are both overhyped 'brands' managed carefully by their handlers. And it's close.
But AJ was more protected after the first loss and in the later stage of his career, that's pretty obvious.
Earlier on, it was more similar. He had the Wlad fight and Parker fight but it's likely Wilder would have taken those fights too since Wlad was 41 and Parker wasn't proven.

After the losses, let's compare how protected each have been.

AJ fought old men and didn't want Wilder or Fury, then after Usyk, had to 'rebuild'. AJ fought Helenius after Wilder KO'd him (so it was safe again), avoided Parker and Zhang and Wilder and Fury.

Wilder fought Fury twice after the first draw, which was really a loss. He fought Helenius who was having a good patch. Then he fought Parker and Zhang. He keeps calling out AJ.

The fact Wilder took Parker and Zhang on those Arab shows while AJ was dodging everyone shows how AJ has been more protected in recent times definitely.

You have to look at the big picture and realise that AJ is the bigger 'brand', makes more money for his handlers, particularly in the latter stages, so he's going to be more protected.

 

First I thought you were joking but I can see that you are serious. I’ve never seen someone arguing that a fighter is good because he is a one trick pony who could eventually land on B-tier HWs.

Even Szpilka and an ancient Ortiz boxed rings around Wilder until they got gassed. Wilder couldn’t even touch Ortiz for what, seven rounds? Are we supposed to be impressed by a guy who eventually can land a big punch on slow, gassed out non-elite level HWs? Wilder was almost 40 fights into his career without a single elite opponent faced when they put him in the ring against the 2018 version of Fury only because they thought Fury was going to be easy pickings.

Wilder turned down 100 million USD to duck Joshua and his manager literally said that “Deontay is not ready for the level of Klitschko yet” when they were offered a shot to become undisputed. Apart from that, every single time Wilder faced someone above the level of the Stivernes and Ortiz’s of the world, he was either knocked out or given a boxing lesson. Wilder is the most protected guy in HW history.

 

Wilder didn't turn down $100 million to fight Joshua. He turned down $100 to sign with DAZN.

Joshua was under no obligation to fight Wilder if Wilder signed with DAZN. Wilder was under no obligation to fight Joshua on DAZN. If Wilder had signed, his first fight on DAZN was going to be Dominic Breazeale (not Joshua). Joshua's was already scheduled to fight Miller (then fought Ruiz instead and lost). So, even if he had signed on with DAZN, Joshua wasn't going to fight him.

You guys seriously need to let that go. There was no $100 million contract for a fight with Anthony Joshua EVER. Nobody has ever been paid $100 million to fight Joshua, let alone been offered it.

Also, Wilder was essentially a cruiserweight who fought at heavyweight his whole career. I don't even know if you can classify him as a cruiserweight, given that most cruiserweights, when they fight at heavyweight, weigh more than Wilder. Usyk is heavier than Wilder now. Okolie is heavier than Wilder now.

Wilder fought in the same division as Beterbiev in the amateurs. If Beterbiev fought Zhang, would you consider Beterbiev PROTECTED, for god's sake?

If Beterbiev fought Ortiz when Wilder did, would you consider Beterbiev protected?

If Beterbiev beat Stiverne for the title (if he even could've), knocked out eight straight heavyweight opponents (if he even could've), went 12 rounds with Fury, floored him twice, and made a successful heavyweight title against him (which Beterbiev could never do), would you consider Beterbiev PROTECTED?

Because Wilder and Beterbiev were in the exact same place, in the same division, when they concluded their amateur careers.

I know there is a strong hatred for Wilder on this board. But you people calling Wilder protected ARE FREAKING HIGH.

No other modern heavyweight has been outweighed by all his opponents (often by alot) for 12 goddamn years.

And he still knocked nearly all of them out.

If Wilder was protected, he'd have been fighting guys like Ola Afolobi, Firat Arslan, Danie Ventor, Sefer Seferi, Artur Mann all these years. He would've tried to get a "grudge match" with Rakhim Chakhkiev as a pro. Maybe weighing 5 or 10 pounds more than Rakhim when the bell rang. Maybe even 15 pounds.

He wouldn't have been giving up 40 freaking pounds in title defenses. He wouldn't have given up weight to everyone for 12 straight years.

I keep repeating that because WHO THE HELL ELSE has ever done that? Nobody. Because it's NOT an advantage to be outweighed by everyone you fight ALL THE TIME for more than a decade.

I don't care how bad you think all those opponents were for 12 years. It catches up. That's why nobody (certainly not "protected" fighters) do it.