Could Wilder have cut to cruiserweight and if so how does he do?

While cruiserweight has probably the least amount of information on fight night weights, what's available does not support the idea of a prolonged campaign for Wilder at the weight. We know, for example, that Glowacki and Usyk, around the age of thirty, only gained three and eight pounds, respectively. Michael Hunter Jr., again around thirty, lost a pound by the time it was time to fight. Even Cunningham was only 204 late into his career.

This leads me to believe a Wilder drained down to cruiserweight would be a changed fighter. There is no guarantee that his most valuable asset- power- would even travel down with him.

 

I think he stops Gassiev and Huck. Briedis would be interesting. He’s got an iron chin and brings that pressure Wilder always struggles with, but a punch from Wilder would be unlike anything he took before.

 

Seeing how light Wilder was already fighting for his size it probably would travel down with him. Wilder has the Fitz "touch" sort of power and that power is much less likely to go away when a fighter cuts weight because its not coming from swinging around mass.

Also if Wilder loses a little power his opponents are getting lighter. This last guy Wilder knocked out was 218 and before him Wilder hadn't fought anyone below 232 since 2013. At CW everyone would be around 200 every single fight.

 

I'm not saying it would go away. But he would have less power, in my opinion. It's not just about losing mass, but also depleted ability to generate torque from having to unnaturally stunt his body's growth. If we're taking the more factual approach of imagining a 205-pound Wilder in the ring, fully committing to spending at least some time at cruiserweight, then the difference might be marginal. But I assume most here choose to think Wilder can rehydrate 15 pounds from 200 anyway.

 

He weighed in as low as around 210 without having to make weight, so of course he could. Draining 5 percent of your body weight isn't a problem.

 

My guess is, that of everyone who has posted in this thread, you've done the most work in collating available data on fight night weights and in analysing that data.

Most posters hear or read of extreme weight cuts and then make the mistaken assumption that they're typical. The data demonstrates otherwise.

Wilder would be around 220lbs in the ring for fights he weighed in at 215lbs. A 15-20lbs gain from weigh in to fight night, would, so far as I know, be the highest documented gain at CW, which admittedly has limited data for fight night weights.

LHW has a substantial amount of documented fight night weights. The vast, vast majority, gain less than 15lbs.

A 15-20lbs+ or 10%+, weigh in to fight night weight gain, isn't unprecedented, but it is in a significant minority.

 

If Okolie could do it, so could Wilder.