I’m not sure I think Hunter is shot compared to the Hunter of 6+ years ago. Let’s see. Am I deluded for thinking Wardley beats Hunter but loses to Zhang, Hrgovic and even Joyce?
Oriz was over 40 and had a PEDs bust. Who has he really beaten, anyway? Not that good. Stiverne has some kind of disease from his obesity where he was pissing out body fat. This is a guy who lost to Demertice King, anyway. Not that good. He lost to Fury and only took the original fight because Fury had to loose over 100 pounds. It was part of his strategy to fight medically unfit fighters, and if backfired. They put him in for the rematches because it was time to cash him out. Parker was after the fall. He'll fight anybody, now. It's a cash out.
I mean, you can parse it any way you like. Ortiz was over 40, he had already had a PEDs bust, and his best wins were Thompson and Jennings. Stiverne was morbidly obese, had Rhabdomyolysis on the night of the fight (obesity can be a contributing factor), already had a loss to Demetice King, and his best win was Arreola. These are absolutely not going to be remembered as anything other than marginal wins. But as you like.
Going in we all knew his limitations. In terms of boxing skills he is not even average, he just has that big punch. Too many people saw the Clarke KO and got carried away. He literally only has one defensive move to lean back then duck down to his right, which is why Huni could not miss with the left hook, because Wardley puts his head in the same damn place every single time and can't counter from that position. I'd say Benn is far more skilled. I don't see the comparison personally, other than maybe both were over hyped and don't belong at world level. I see Wardley as a more domestic level UK Wilder. Big right hand that he massively loads up on and not much else. But at least Wardley is willing to be tested. Just over 2 years as a pro and 18-0 he took on an undefeated fighter like Huni is impressive, Wilder after 2 years was fighting DeAndrey Debron who was 15-6 and when Wilder was 18-0 he was fighting the 17-3-1 Daniel Cota. Wardley will no doubt at some point be beaten, he has far too many holes in his game and I don't see him as a top operator in the division. Warren will have to be careful with the matchmaking from now on. While he got passed Huni it was by the skin of his teeth.
Terrible comparison. Wardley carries genuine power and has already beaten some solid fighters in Clarke and Hunni... Connor hasn't beaten anyone... Wardley is the UK wilder huge power but some doubts over his technical boxing.. He's the not the first puncher to loose round and then spark someone out.
Yeah, Wilder fought Jason Gavern before his first title fight.....let that sink in for a moment before realising that at no point did Wilder prove himself the best HW in the US, let alone in the World. Never even mentioned Michael Hunter, never fought Ruiz, both of which eould have given Wilder absolute Hell!