Yes, turning that DAZN deal down is even worse than just ducking Joshua as it was for fighting 3 fights, each of which he and his team would have been also paid on top of the 100 million. That’s generational wealth right there but he would have had to fight Joshua as a first fight so they turned it down. Thanks for confirming my point further. And I didn’t even mention ducking Whyte here - Wilder did that too, around the same time. Nobody can defend fighting Ortiz instead of facing a still useful Whyte for what would have been a career high payday back then. And you write an awful lot without addressing the “Deontay is just a baby” thing by Finkel. Wilder was into what, 40 fights into his career when offered a chance to become undisputed against Klitschko and they turned it down. There’s literally nobody else from HW history who did something like that.
Dude. I didn't confirm your point. I pointed out you were wrong. Which you were. Nobody offered Wilder $100 million for a fight with Joshua. Ever. Nobody said he had to fight Joshua first, instead of Breazeale. Ever. You got it wrong. Let it go.
What? So if Romanov and Zimnoch and those guys ... Fought Tyson Fury three times when Wilder did, Fought Zhilei Zhang this year, Fought Parker last year, Fought Ortiz two times when Wilder did, Fought Stiverne two times when Wilder did, Fought Arreola when Wilder did, Fought Breazeale when Wilder did, Fought Helenius (who was coming off the two biggest wins of his career) .... and on and on ... Would you consider Romanov and Zimnoch "totally protected" too? Since they're (according to you) better than Wilder, and Wilder's been (according to you and others) "protected?" If anything, your examples show how Wilder was NOT remotely protected. Because a guy who lost to Romanov and Zimnoch shouldn't have beaten most of the guys Wilder did or been nearly as successful. On the contrary, Wilder overachieved as a pro spectacularly. Wilder should've been cannon fodder for a lot of people he wasted ... given where he started, and giving up so much weight to all of them for so long, and given the advantages so many of those opponents had over him. Not since Larry Holmes has a heavyweight been so much better as a pro than he was as an amateur.
Fury fought Wilder like 6 months after returning from a 3 year hiatus where he ballooned up to 300+lbs. Then in spite of winning in most peoples eyes he had to rematch him, then beat him decisively, then had to fight him AGAIN for no ****ing reason, all 3x in Wilders home country. I dont see how that could make Fury more protected than Wilder....
Fury trained for a whole year to fight Wilder. Fury fought three times that year. And Fury fought great against Wilder. Fury also had a 40 pound weight advantage over Wilder. I defy you to watch their first fight and tell me Fury didn't look great in there. Wilder (the champion) agreed to defend his title against Fury again, that's why they fought a second time. Again, Fury had a 40 pound weight advantage. And Wilder took Fury to court to fight him a third time. (Because Fury didn't want to fight him again. He said Wilder gave him brain damage.) And, for a third time, Fury had a 40 pound weight advantage. And yet you said Wilder is more protected? Who was protecting him when he insisted on fighting Fury three times, even after losing the rematch? Wilder could've fought Fury once ... and after flooring Fury twice and successfully defending his title against Fury ... NEVER fought Fury again. Chris Byrd didn't defend against Golota a second time after their draw. Hasim Rahman didn't defend against Toney again after their draw. A "protected" fighter certainly never would've faced Fury three times, that's for damn sure. Especially when Wilder walked out of the ring with the title after fight one ... notching his eighth successful title defense. The only two guys who fought Fury three times were Chisora and Wilder. Fury chose to fight Chisora three times. A judge FORCED Fury to fight Wilder three times. We only got that classic trilogy because of Wilder, who went before a judge to force it. Again, you guys are all high calling Wilder protected.
Is this even serious question. Of course Wilder is more protected. Joshua faced Wlad, Povetkin, Pulev, Parker, in much fewer fights.
Fury was intended to be a lamb to the slaughter in that first fight. Everyone knows this. I was one of the few people who was saying Fury might actually have a solid chance at winning. He had looked like an absolute slob against bums in his comeback fights, and in general had a reputation of being pillow fisted. People were also repeatedly bringing up how he got dropped by a cruiserweight in the lead up to the fight, "if Wilder catches him he wont get up" etc etc. Lets not act like it wasnt attempted opportunism gone wrong. What was SUPPOSED to happen was Wilder was gonna KO Fury and then walk around calling himself the real lineal champ and brag about how he beat the best British HW etc in the posturing wars between him and AJ. As for the rematches, when you have a brand to protect and you lose (which he did in most peoples eyes) then yeah, you're more or less trapped into needing to take a rematch to put things right. Its like saying AJ was brave for rematching Ruiz, Usyk or presumably soon Dubois. Also lets not forget that even after the first fight the general perception was still that Fury was pillowfisted and that he'd need to go to decision to win. Remember "he needs to perfect for 12 rounds, I just need to be perfect for one second"?. Obviously having endless rematches favours the puncher and they knew this. They once again ****ed up though because nobody expected Fury to come in like a wrecking ball and do what he did. With the final fight of the trilogy, from Wilders perspective it was basically a man with nothing left to lose hoping for one last chance to land a Hail Mary, not some act of bravery.
So you still won’t address the ducking of Whyte or the “Deontay is still a baby” from Finkel to duck Klitschko. That alone proves how much more Wilder has always been protected than anyone in HW history.
Obviously Wilder. Joshua fought his mandatories. Wilder only fought "mandatories" that were signed with PBC Joshua made successful title defences against 5 different top 10 opponents: Klitschko, Parker, Povetkin, Pulev, Takam. Wilder made successful title defences against one top 10 opponent: Ortiz.
Wilder definitely got protected against Ortiz he was about to get knocked out but the referee called the doctor in to check the cuts he didn’t have, the ultimate display of protection.