Who is the better win Joshua v Klitschko or Wilder v Ortiz? A little context...... Klitschko was 41 and had just had an 11 year winning streak broken by Tyson Fury in a fight where he barely threw a punch out of fear and was mentally done, he then sat around for 18 months before the AJ fight and still nearly ended him. AJ was massively hyped up as a gold medallist (undeserved but still) and was the golden child of British HW boxing and was pretty much expected to go in there and walk through a 41 year old shot Klitschko. Ortiz was the boogeyman of the division although not having a great resume No1 wanted to fight him, he was unbeaten albeit with 2 NCs and was a stellar amateur I think 349-17 something like that, Wilder had very little boxing skill and had shown previous fear of a skilled boxer before (Povetkin) and many expected Ortiz to just outbox him. Many fans attribute Joshua beating Klitschko as a far far greater win due to name value, but is it really that much of a better win?
I think Klitschko was burned out by the time he did fight Fury. When he did fight Joshua he was refreshed. Klitschko used to be a champion, a long reigning champion. He is cut from that cloth. The fight with Joshua could very easy have gone the other way if the punches had just landed a little bit differently. Actually I think in that losing effort Klitschko elevated his standing.
Klitschko for me all day long, Ortiz was 38 year himself, on blood pressure pills, and had popped dirty twice for PEDs. He never looked close to the guy who stopped Jennings in 7 rounds after he popped dirty. Wlad was 41, past his best years, and inactive. However he was still in great condition and was objectively a better fighter than Ortiz. Joshua did very well to win that but I still think Wlad could have got him out in the 6th if he went for it.
Even that inactive 41 y/o Wlad would've knocked out Ortiz. Ortiz got knocked out by the only puncher he fought, a low skill level one trick pony can crushing dosser who can't box to save his life. Conversely, Wlad could box very well, had an amazing jab, great right hand, left hook and footwork, and hit just as hard as The Dosser does but with both hands. Ortiz's head is a magnet for right hands, always was even going back to the amateurs. Hammer lighting him up with right hands This content is protected Watch what happens when Povernov realizes Ortiz's head is a magnet for right hands? He can't miss with it This content is protected
Oh absolutely Wlad would have smashed Ortiz thats not open for debate at all, it's more more a question due to skill disparity between the 4 fighters i would say the skill gap between Wilder and Ortiz is much larger than the gap between AJ and Wlad at the time.
Name value has very little to do with it - Wlad was a legitimate elite fighter, Ortiz wasn't. Ortiz resume is pathetically thin - there's next to nothing there at all... Indeed, Ortiz best win was a disinterested version of Jennings, who at his absolute best lost a very clear and correctly wide UD to Wlad.
Up to a point this is fair - Wlad was clearly declined by this point, but still competitive and dangerous enough that Fury had to cuddle and couldn't afford to put any power behind punches... The loss to Fury, whether or not it was anger at never getting to set that score straight, certainly gave him his fire back in the Joshua fight - declined or not, even that version of Wlad was dangerous and a win that deserves respect (in exactly the same sense that a much less green Vitali being competitive with the even more declined version of Lewis gets him respect - despite both respective conditions and the outcome of the fights makes Joshua's the greater achievement). This is a ridiculous question, it's not remotely close... And even this forum (with it's very, very clearly evident biases and tendency to overrate hypejobs) can see it, though the fact that anyone at all knows so little about boxing that they've voted for Wilder/Ortiz should be a mark of shame.
And the Jennings that fought Ortiz, in turn, looked a shell of the man who lost a wiide UD to Wlad... Are you a Wilder fan (going by screen name)? You seem to speak far more sense than any I've seen on here...
Ortiz knocked out a much worse version of the guy who couldn't put a dent in Wlad? Doesn't speak very highly for Ortiz, does it?
I find Wilder hilarious and I do have a lot of respect for him. However unlike some posters on here (namely a certain colour beard) I have a level of objectivity and its obvious his resume is paper thin. Ortiz is also vastly overrated (certainly the cooked version Wilder beat) although he was still an excellent heavy and a borderline top 5 guy even at 38. The Jennings he beat was still game but he was never able to replicate that performance without being on the juice. Joshua's win over Wlad trumps anything Wilder has done (I still back Deontay to spark AJ out if they ever fight).
I don't know what it is about beards and the fatty deposits they're hiding Fair - yes, he's funny sometimes... I generally find him annoying just because I wish he'd actually tried to prove he was as good as he constantly claimed - and now it's too late. I've always believed Joshua would have an easy night with Wilder (and that's why it's never happened) - although AJ looks damaged now, I still think there's a gulf there that'd be too much to bridge... I'd love to see it, but I don't believe we ever will.