Don't be ridiculous. When AJ, Fury, and Wilder were the top 3 heavyweights everyone expected all 3 of them to mix it up and we'd get an undisputed champion. Fury and Wilder performed their end of the deal, but AJ was too scared to prove who was the best in their primes between him and Fury. Even if they were to fight today it would be meaningless as neither is champ and there are both shells of their former selves. At least we can thank AJ for ridding the sport of Jake Paul, that's probably his greatest boxing accolade.
But you just said Wilder is 2nd for fighting Fury 3 times? Why doesnt Chisora get that same benefit? Joshua Wilder & Parker were all unbeaten Champions at the same time, AJ knocked off Parker, why doesnt he get ranked for that? Same Parker that beat the snot out of Wilder for 12 rounds. Instead you give the ranking benefits to a guy that failed to fight another belt holder in 5 years as champion and tried to get a easy touch against a returning out of shape drug cheat in Tyson Fury and still got battered. Your sole reason for placing Wilder 2nd is for fighting Fury 3 times, by that logic you have to have Chisora there. Unless theres more reasoning that youve failed to mention.
I actually like Wilder better than most people on here, fun fighter. He was clearly 3rd. Though I do wonder how a match between the 2 would go. I dont think AJ would swing with Deontay like he did with Ruiz but who knows, I still have AJ winning 7,8 times outta 10 though.
Ill never discredit Wilders entertainment value, i think hes great value for money and with the right promoter backing him from the start he could have been a mega star. I will just never understand how hes ranked so highly by people based on his body of work. He gets way to much credit for dropping Tyson Fury multiple times rather than what hes actually done in his career as a whole.
AJ's career was going well, but Andy Ruiz Jr. was the "breaking point". He should also retire, along with Usyk and Fury.
Wilder was a HW champion with a 10-2-1 (9ko's) record in title fights. Chisora was just a contender. So, in the time period between Wladimir Klitschko's reign and Usyk reign (2010's) the 3 HW champions were Fury, Wilder, and AJ....with Ruiz holding a title for about a minute. Obviously during that time, the top 3 were Fury, Wilder, AJ. Only the order in which they were ranked during that period is up for debate. Leave the journeyman Chisora out of the discussion.
Wilder was champion at the same time as Wladimir, then Fury, then Parker, AJ. Ruiz doesn’t count because his reign was tied up with a rematch clause. Who did Wilder beat that Chisora wouldn’t have? This long reign he had of the WBC belt, tell me what he did that was more impressive than what AJ did as champion. Maybe if Parker ducked AJ like Wilder he would have had a longer reign too. How was Parker not a legitimate champion? Why didn’t Wilder go take his belt? Why didn’t Wilder unify for undisputed with Wlad? Why didn’t he fight Dillian Whyte who was his number 1 for 1 million days? I ask again, outside of dropping Tyson Fury and smacking a load of tin cans over, how are you warranting Wilder as the number 3.
Chisora would not have beaten Stiverne 1, who dominated Arreola twice. He would not have beaten Ortiz, who he said he would never fight due to being a hard night at the office. And he would not have scraped a draw with Fury even with A-side advantage. You're just repeating Hearn's BS narrative. Team Wilder wanted to marinate the fight, and AJ was always scared of Wilder one-shotting him. Hearn knew AJ was chinny and timid, laid out by Pricey in the gym, with this weakness demonstrated vs Ruiz and Dubois many years later. Wilder was top 4 Ring ranked for 9 years. He was a 5 year reigning, 10 defence titlist. Wilder was a major player. Parker is a comparative nobody, just as Ruiz is despite destroying prime AJ.
5 year reigning. 10 defence titlist, and you named Stiverne 1 and Ortiz as his peak. Thanks for proving my point. Ortiz best win was Jennings, Stivernes best win was Arreola. Wilder beat both twice and you want me to accept him as the 3rd best heavyweight post Klitschko, lost your god damn mind. Dillians Whytes resume is stronger. Anthony Joshuas resume is stronger, Joseph Parkers resume is stronger, Daniel Dubois' resume is stronger, Oleksandr Usyks resume is stronger, Joe Joyces resume is stronger. Funnily enough, Wilder never got in the ring with any of them names and the one he did he got bullied for 12 rounds. You got to fit the narrative though, he only fought Parker when he was "Washed". Wilder got his hands on a belt, locked it away for 5 years fighting turnips, Wilder has to get ranked highly by a specific set of supporters otherwise the 2 wins over him diminish another certain fighters legacy so Wilder has to be seen as this high level heavyweight. Thats the real narrative that gets spun when theres absolutely no evidence that shows Wilder was a Top 3 heavyweight.
You asked who Wilder beat who Chisora wouldn't beat. The answer is that against Wilder's opponents, Chisora never becomes WBC champion vs Stiverne. Even if he did he would lose to Ortiz, and get shut out or stopped in fight 1 by Fury. And Chisora ultimately lost to a shot 2/1 underdog Wilder himself. Your perspective is totally detached from reality. My view is consistent with the rankings from Jan 2015-Dec 2023. This forum also disagrees with you, placing Wilder as top 5 in the era, only below Usyk, Fury, Joshua and Dubois, which means forum consensus has Wilder solidly top 3 prior to Usyk beating AJ in 2021.