I took a 2nd look at Ortiz vs. Wilder. Wow, Wilder does many things wrong. For openers, his guard is very low. He's not blocking much with the gloves, he leaves a lot open. He does the opposite of tucking his chin in. Instead, he leans forward's and stick his face forward, with the chin high. His jab is mostly pawing, and he circles a lot with his left glove, hoping to sucker someone into being hit by his right hands, which is quick. But he doesn't land and jab and combo often. And he's not the type to land a counter if his opponent missed. He's got wild wind up like technique that a good pro will see coming. He does have good speed to his blows, but I see too many flaws. It little wonder why a much smaller man like Szpilka, or an average undefeated/untested type type like Washington could be even with him as a boxer in terms of rounds won to round lost. Ortiz, however old he was in the lead, and IMO gassed late. If these guys could out box him, what do you think a real top ten heavyweight in his prime with size, speed and power will do? Based on what I saw, Joshua is going to drill him inside of four rounds, could be a quick one.
Plenty of flaws no doubt, still I think he ultimately starches AJ and can possibly do the same to Fury if and when he comes back. He’s an egnima and the sooner people look outside these predefined book of proper boxing technique boundaries the sooner they will accept Wilder for being the unpredictable pugilist that he is.
And after I saw Joshua Wlad, not only did I see a poorly conditioned athlete in Joshua who is easy to hit with a straight right hand seriously down and hurt...I also saw a tired guy who is truly reluctant to fight a prime fighter for that exact reason. There are too many mistakes to write to make you guys fully understand how vulnerable Joshua truly is against Wilder. Too many.
They certainly can and like RJJ in the past the deterioration of a fighter that depends heavily on his god given fast twitch fibers happens suddenly, abruptly and that same fighter will find it difficult to remove themselves from their lofty reality. Skills last longer but what Wilder has is dynamic and of course short lived.
Wilder is one of the few fighters in history where the concept of "styles make fights" seems to mean absolutely nothing to him. He'll throw away however many rounds he wants just pawing away with his left doing nothing just waiting to land a right hand and in every fight so far, he's landed it. It's amazing, really.
Joshua is by far the better boxer and has explosive power he should win within 4 rounds but it’s a not a slam dunk to phrase another sport. Wilder has been smart to come in very light in his fights his cardio is better than most heavies and he does have a right hand. So I wouldn’t write him off in this match. 70-30 Joshua for me. Wilder’s handlers I must say have positioned him well, he fought 0 risks on his way up, and hung around fighting sub par defenses until time was right, they minimized his risk and maximized his earning potential. He’s one fight away from being the man of the division. Having faced only Ortiz. Every other elite fighter has done more in fewer fights Povetkin, Parker, Joshua, Fury. And yet Wilder with the path of least resistance is in position to leap frog all of them should he win to be at the top of the division. It’s good for him but bad for the sport, as others may try to market bring fighters along in the same manner.
This. All that matters is winning. Losing 11 straight rounds doesn't matter if you get the knockout in the 12th. As long as most of the top heavyweights are over 240lbs Wilder knows that they'll gas in the second half of the fight.
People seem to have forgotten Joshua's plodding straight lines vs Takam. Swap Takam for Ortiz and he's in another life and death match.
Wilder doesn't land on Joshua, though. He hasn't landed a punch before round 6 on a live top 15 HW in his career, I don't think. He won't be able to take those rounds off against Joshua.