I think Wilders stock went up in this trilogy, he's headlined three major ppv's and everybody knows who he is.I think he is high risk high reward now, because if you beat him, you will be well known as well. After some time off, If Wilder feels up to continuing there is many options against contenders, and Wilder is always making exciting fights and highlight reel KO'S, he's famous for that. There is always room for KO artist in the heavyweight division. I would like to see him against AJ and Usyk while he still believes in himself. If he were to retire i would understand because you have to look after your health first, because without your health you have nothing.
His stamina is his issue. His stock went up last night. Showed a ton of heart. Is he elite? No. Is he better than a lot of people here wanna give him credit for? Hell yes. Nobody has given Fury as much trouble as Wilder had. Fury kind of lucky Wilder gasses after just a couple rounds.
People knowing who he is vs other fighters wanting to fight him are two different things. Other than a decent payday what does Wilder bring to the table? AJ and Usyk are already set to rematch and after that fight the Fury fight would be huge for all the belts. The unification would also probably have a rematch clause. Wilder might push 40 before he gets a shot at the belts again. That leaves him with the young prospects. Would any of them risk a potential lost fighting Wilder. A lost would set them back years.
Cant help but think picking fury for a dance partner has killed his chances of having any sort of legacy. Ortiz twice we,re great wins...i think wilder could have picked off some good names after that. Parker, ruiz, whyte, povetkin. He could have probably beaten them and joshua would have been a toss up. Say he,d have won that fight...he could have left the sport an absolute champion with a good record without us seeing the embarrassing excuses etc. The thing is picking fury looked like a genius move cause when that first fight was signed fury looked finished. Its been a cherrypick gone totally wrong but tbf he got his respect back last night. Put up a tremendous fight. Both guys we,re a credit to boxing just hope wilder shows better sportsmanship going forward now. They done well.
I think it's probably downhill from here. If i was Wilder i'd be kicking myself not fighting Joshua when i had the chance. Wilder picked an out of shape Fury recovering from depression after ballooning up in weight thinking he would be ''easy pickings''. Wilder should have lost all three fights but i give him the benefit of the doubt that the first fight may have been closer on later inspection going by the punch statistics. I think Wilder's team, Al Haymon and Shelly Finkel perhaps weren't hugely confident in him and he was fortunate he could fight lesser opponents in the wbc heavyweight rankings. I think Wilder never really thought he needed to know how to box because he was so used to knocking out everyone he faced when he did step up it was a rude awakening. He now suddenly has to learn how to throw a jab properly, how to go to the body, how to feint, how to set traps...etc.. and all that was too overwhelming for him. He became in love with his power in his right hand to the point where he never really thought he needed to know how to box properly. I won't diss him on the Povetkin fight because i do believe he would have fought him when it happened. I know there's controversy around the ''meldonium'' trace amounts Povetkin got busted for and many believe the fight should have happened. Povetkin also got busted for the use of a ''SARM'' which many mma fighters have been caught with as an alternative to an anabolic steroid. Which to me is a sign of Povetkin's guilt. I think Wilder should take some time off to recover and fight someone who he can look good against. Wilder vs Ruiz Jr would be an explosive contest if he still has anything left in the tank.
Wilder is an exciting fighter to watch. You don’t have to endorse him or like him but give the man his due. If he has no serious injuries from this last beat down he can still return and beat AJ and most likely 7 of the other current ranked top 10 HW.
I think he should fight for another 2 years, no bulking up next time, I think the extra weight cost him dearly.
