Usyk targeting Wilder?

Choosing shot Wilder in 2025 as a voluntary defence over interim champions Kabayel or Parker would be a duck, unfortunately.

 

Deontay Wilder had a broken hand AND a torn bicep in the Arreola fight, and still stopped him.

99.9 percent of boxers with a broken hand OR a torn bicep don't even win, let alone suffering both and STILL stopping the opponent.

The fact that anyone would bring up Wilder-Arreola as a fight to RIDICULE Wilder shows a total lack of knowledge about the sport.

I've seen tough guys quit when they injured their hand, and it wasn't even broken. I've seen title fights stopped when a guy's bicep rolls up.

What I've never seen - EXCEPT FOR WILDER-ARREOLA - is a guy suffer a torn bicep AND a broken hand ... both of which required surgery to repair ... and still score a stoppage WIN.

I don't know why some people simply refuse to accept how great a defending champion Wilder was. He had more surgeries after nearly all his title defenses toward the end there, went thru surgery and rehab, always showed up in shape, and still kept defending his title a helluva lot more than anyone has since then.

And people still whine.

It boggles the mind, honestly. He really did a number on some of you.

https://www.espn.com/boxing/story/_...suffering-2-big-injuries-ko-win-chris-arreola

 

I loved watching him. He knocked people out, and i thought he could get beat with every fight.

 

Because he wasn't. He won the title off of the paper champion and then spent 3 years defending it against second and third tier heavyweights. WBC & PBC kept him in witness protection. His first defence against a Top 10 guy was Luis Ortiz and it was his 7th defence. He also managed to avoid Klitschko, AJ and Whyte in the meanwhile. After that he was found out at the highest level.

 

I suspect future history will see Wilder as the epicenter of a shameful chapter in WBC history, with a belt belt hostage long term and defended against laughable opponents for title defences...

And we'll see - odds are Parker is going to be one of the guys who rule the roost once Usyks gone... If nothing else, he's likely to add to his resume where Wilder won't do anything from here on.

I never understand this emphasis on preserving obviously discredited narratives - no, it won't change that a lot of people were duped into buying the ridiculous hype of Wilder despite the dearth of evidence...

But yes, the fact he was exposed towards the end and the vast majority can now see that he was never anywhere near what he was hyped up to be at the time actually DOES change that - that's what will be known in future, the fact people were wrong at the time won't matter... Exactly the same as people thinking Pricey would go further than Fury isn't forgotten, but it's thoroughly laughed at now exactly as it should be.

 

Yup. I know Usyks original plan was to fight fury AJ and wilder coming to heavyweight but Usyk himself publicly has stated wilder should retire. It’s a nothing fight now.

 

Did a number on you, too,apparently.

All of Wilder's title challengers were ranked by the WBC, WBA, IBF or WBO.

Wilder's record in 16 bouts (from Stiverne to Zhang) against ranked heavyweights is 11-4-1.

(None of them, Joshua, Usyk, Fury, you name them, has engaged in 16 fights with ranked heavyweights. None of them.)

Wilder engaged in 13 heavyweight title fights. Let me repeat:13 heavyweight title fights.

(None of them, Joshua, Usyk, Fury, you name them, has competed in 13 heavyweight title fights.)

Wilder made 10 successful heavyweight title defenses. Wilder reigned for five years. (Both put him in all-time categories for length of reign and successful defenses.)

Wilder DID NOT unify. A lot of champions in boxing history did NOT unify. Most of you could care less that they didn't.

Alexis Arguello had 85 pro fights. Never engaged in a unification with anyone. Larry Holmes had 75 pro fights. Never unified with anyone.Wilfred Benitez had 62 pro fights. Never unified with anyone. Sanchez didn't unify. Pedroza didn't unify. Pryor didn't unify. Yet, today, all you bean counters crave are unifications, and most are duds.

Get over it.

I find it hilarious that the mere "thought" of Wilder-Usyk (which could've happened as early as the semifinals of the 2008 Olympics, but Usyk lost in the quarterfinals) ... has you guys terrified of another Foreman-Moorer outcome.

He's old and broken, and you guys are still scared of him "possibly" beating Usyk.

Bring back Jim Lampley. I want to hear him yell, "IT HAPPENED. IT HAPPENED" again.

 

Don't care about sanctioning bodies rankings. Lawrence Okolie, Michael Hunter and Moses Itauma are not number 1 contenders in the world.

Paper title fights, for sure. He's 0-2-1 for the real heavyweight championship.

Yes, with his paper title, beating only 1 Top 10 rated guy.

Most of these champions were paper title holders like Wilder.

Holmes was the lineal and the consensus champion and beat 17 Top 10 guys during his reign. There's a difference.

Nobody's terrified. Wilder couldn't even hurt Herndon. He just doesn't deserve the shot, that's all.

 

The fact you can't even give Wilder this speaks volumes.

Wilder won every round in that tuneup, floored Herndon twice, totally dominated, and stopped him. You can't even acknowledge that.

You claim you don't care about sanctioning bodies, then complain when Wilder doesn't collect MORE belts.

It's tired.

Wilder was a dominant champ for years who proved how dangerous and how tough he was in the ring. The Arreola fight being a prime example.

Has Usyk ever sustained a major injury in a fight and won? A broken hand? A torn bicep? And won?

Usyk spends five minutes on the deck when someone punches his bladder protector, for God's sake. He's cancelled or postponed fights when he's tweaked his elbow.

A lot of top fighters are front runners. They do fine when everything is going their way. Usyk's fought a long time. Things start breaking when you get older. As Wilder can attest.

We've yet to see Usyk overcome a major injury to win anything. Sometimes, fighters never know if they can do it until it happens to them. Vitali wasn't known as a quitter until he quit.

Wilder was an excellent heavyweight champion and he's a proven warrior. That's why people here, despite all the negative comments, would still rather Usyk fight him than anyone else.

 

He looked terrible against a guy who got knocked out in 1 & 2 by Ajagba and Torrez. How can I give him credit for that?

I don't care about the sanctioning bodies when it comes to treating their belts as world championships. They are pretty good at crowning contenders tho and if you unify there is more chance you fight more top competition.

He was dominating over second and third tier heavyweights. Not impressive as actually dominating top competition.

This has nothing to do with the level of competition Wilder fought and most importantly who he didn't fight.

He was a warrior, true. He was a shyte paper title holder tho. And no, people here wouldn't rather see Usyk against him. It's literally in this thread. The consensus is, Usyk should fight Parker or Kabayel.

 

He won every minute of every round, scored two knockdowns, and won by stoppage.

Does he need to stop everyone faster?

Wilder stopped Helenius faster than anyone. Does that mean you have Wilder ahead of Joshua? Does that mean Joshua was terrible, because Wilder knocked out Helenius in one round and it took Joshua SEVEN TIMES LONGER?

Is that the argument you're trotting out now?

It's so tiresome. I never saw a dominant, power-punching, warrior of a champion, which Wilder was, dragged so hard on a forum.

It's nonsensical.

Guys around here love to talk about the TRIANGLE theory. But they never apply it to Wilder.

Just because Wilder lost to Fury, and Usyk beat Fury, doesn't mean Usyk beats Wilder. None of those guys fight at all alike.

Usyk and Wilder are the only two champions to successfully defend a heavyweight title against Fury, and Wilder fought much better versions of Fury than Usyk did.

I'd love to see it.

 

Wilder wouldn't make it out of the 2nd round. His Glass Jaw would get obliterated.

 

Like Parker stopped him in two?

Wilder had TWO shoulder surgeries in 2024, after the Parker and Zhang fights. He's now pain free.

Even with Wilder's shoulder issues and difficulty throwing many punches at all, Parker couldn't stop Wilder, put him down, or even land much.

Parker landed 89 punches on Wilder over 12 rounds. That's only about seven punches landed a round, on average. But even that's skewed, because Parker landed 25 percent of his punches in one round (the eighth). The other 11 rounds, he landed very little.

In fact, Wilder raised his hands at the end under the misguided notion he'd thrown enough to win on points, because Parker did so little damage and didn't manage to land a lot at all over 12 rounds.

It was hardly the "beatdown" Parker fans now trumpet it to be. It was a boring decision, against a guy with such bad shoulders they required surgery.

After Wilder beats Usyk, let him rematch Parker. It'll look like Paul Williams-Carlos Quintana II.

 

Pointless targeting Wilder... Let him win a fight or two against anyone at the top to earn a shot.

 

So not knowing about an injury is somehow the same as lacking knowledge about the sport as a whole?

Mind you, I actually used Arreola as an example to compliment his power. Of course this completely flew over your head.