So...is it fair to say we've overrated Wilders punching power?

He didn't land cleanly on Parker

 

Selective and clever matchmaking created something that never was. All smoke and mirrors.

 

I always said his power was way overrated. He only knocked out cans and you could visually see his punches did not have the heavy impact of the real special HW punchers. He was just good at catching cans with his sharp snappy punches but nothing really special in his power. Fury and Parker both walked him down.

 

Similar in some ways to Shannon Briggs. Terrific numbers. But look into the numbers and you see who those glossy results are against. Wilder is murder on the C and B grade guys. Not so much on the A grade. Which is what you have to consider whenever looking at the big hitters---ko's against who? And w/ his matchmaking; who was never matched and list the guys not ko'd.

That list is pretty long for both guys, isn't it? A graders not on the Ko list. Either didn't ever fight them or did not get the results.

 

No. Wilder is just finished. He's mentally gone.

 

I think it has been overrated yes. But Wilder does have nasty power. Now is he any harder a puncher than Joshua or Zhang?? No. And if he is… it’s NOT by much.

It also has a lot to do with HOW Wilder throws his shots. He literally throws 90% of his punches from the other side of the ring with EVERYTHING he’s got. Guys like Zhang and Joshua are shorter and more controlled with most of their shots.

Wladimir hits every bit as hard (I actually think harder) as Wilder but he was way more controlled and reserved with his power. But go watch The Mercer or Pulev fights and tell me Wlad didn’t hit as hard as Wilder when he really sat on his shots.

But the narrative of “HARDEST PUNCHER IN BOXING HISTORY” is pushed way too much with Wilder. Plenty of past HW’s hit as hard. Lewis hit as hard!

 

Yep. A few years back I was scoffed at for saying the same thing. But Emanuel Steward has said dozens of times that Wlad is the hardest hitter he worked with. And I think he knew what the hell he was talking about. And it wasn’t “just because he was Wlad’s trainer” that he said that. Steward never said that with Moorer, Lewis, Holyfield But he raved about Wlad’s power.

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Go to 5:19. Watch how that right drives back a 230lb fighter. Mercer was never driven back by Lewis like that or Briggs. Morrison mainly caught Ray with hooks and uppercuts.

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NASTY Power when he sat on em.

 

He hits hard, especially for his weight (barely a few lbs above cruiserweight) but he really has a lack of durable guys on his resume. Joshua has Povetkin, Wlad, Takam, Johnson and a KD against Ruiz. Wilder only has Duhaupas, Stiverne and Ortiz (and how good a chin did Ortiz have anyway?). You could add Fury to that list, but Fury isn't known for having a good chin, just good recuperative powers.

Even with all the cans and glass-jaws on his resume though, Wilder still has a ton of very brutal one punch knockouts, and that's difficult to achieve unless you have top grade power.

 

He is legit.

If anything people underestimate how hard it is to land clean and fully complete the kinetic chain.

 

His power is insanely overrated.

Does he hit hard? Of course, but his competition was horrible. Who’d he knock out that couldn’t be knocked out by other fighters?

His record did intimidate though, which made his power look more impressive than it was.

Curious what people think are his top three victories and why?

 

His punching power isnt overrated. How can ppl honestly say that now?

He couldnt hit Parker because he himself was too bad and Parker was too good. This doesnt mean Wilder s punching power is now overrated, what a rubbish man.

It s like saying in Tennis the service of Goran Ivanisevic or Ivo Karlovic is overrated...the numbers (their aces) prove how good their service was. In relation to time i say Ivanisevic had the most effective service ever. The raquet s in his time werent as good as today s, but he served overall 1477 aces in one calender year, which is to this day the record.

Wilder knocked anyone down he ever faced until Parker now. But he wasnt able to hit Parker properly.

 

I think that’s a no brainer. I get that Wilder started boxing late, but he did medal in the Olympics. They didn’t need to fight so many dishwashers and bartenders to build his record up.

Styles are everything when it comes to boxing so there may be an exception or two, but I think a 35 year old Wlad would knock out everyone that Deontay knocked out. And so would have Vitali.

Building that impressive record worked for him though, so maybe fighting all those bums was the right thing to do.

 

He’s punching power is great, but not when it comes to all time great punchers.


What fighter has he knocked out that impressed you so much?

look at all of Joshua’s first 15 opponents. Great fighters, no. But real fighters.

look at Wilders first 15 opponents. They weren’t even fighters.
Joshua could have fought 25 bouncers and build a great resume too.