Deciding who's rank 3.... - Joshua vs Wilder

What AJ lacks in H2H prowess against the likes of Fury, Usyk and (potentially) Wilder he makes up a lot of ground for in his resume. IMO, it's a very solid resume, with some good quality consistent wins. That's why he's my #3.

H2H would I favour him over Wilder? Not so sure to be honest, that's a proper 50/50 fight for me after the AJ and Wilder's last respective fights. Earlier this year I would've backed AJ 70/30 to get the job done against Wilder, now it's a toss-up for me.

 

Joshua at least is more likely to make the fights to reclaim his former status. Wilder not as likely.

 

BB by KO.

 

That's because it's true, and it's a fact that can never be expunged, no matter how much you wish to gloss over it.

Rice Pudding Jr couldn't even wobble Liakhovich (ghost of), Johnson (ghost of) and Franklin (crap). He had a stinker with Paint Dry. That's his sort of level. He was thereafter dropped by a formerly retired and shot to pieces Arreola...

Joshua lost to a mediocre and morbidly obese midget.

 

That's very generous to Wilder. His last 5 fights:

Fury 3
Fury 2
Breazeale
Ortiz 2
Fury 1

He got a very fortunate draw in Fury 1 being thoroughly outboxed against a guy who was clearly not in peak condition. He was outboxed again against an aging past prime opponent in Ortiz 2, only getting out of it via the trusty right. He steamrollered Breazeale before being utterly dominated in Fury 2 and redeeming himself somewhat but again being brutally KO'ed in Fury 3.

That's one clear win out of 5 against a B rate opponent with a gift draw the only other achievement.

 

Absolutely.

 

He KO'd Ortiz in 6 rounds or so, if I remember rightly. That was a very clear win.

 

Go back a couple of years when AJ was chasing Wilder and Wilder was ducking him...

At that point there was zero question - AJ was levels beyond Wilder on resume.

They've both lost twice since, Wilder arguably three times.

Does this do enough to pull AJ's level down and boost Wilders up?

No. It's still not even close.

 

The records just show the final result but there are wins and there are wins. The KO was clear enough but to take a report at random:

'Wilder had lost every second of the fight before that moment in the seventh.

Deontay Wilder has knocked out Luis Ortiz with his first meaningful punch of the fight.

Wilder was losing the fight convincingly before landing the straight right hand on Ortiz's chin, sending him crumbling to the canvas.'

My point is simply that if you're following your 'last 5 fights only' method of assessing a fighter, then Wilder has 2 wins out of 5, one of them against someone who is arguably not first tier and the other it's one very good punch in a fight he was losing handily to an at least 40 year old Ortiz ie older than Pulev was when AJ fought him. Yet you don't seem to put the same caveat before Ortiz that you do by the younger Pulev. It seems inconsitent?

 

Fury beats unified Champion on away soil
Usyk beats unified Champion on away soil

Fury’s opponent was on a winning streak of 22 fights and unbeaten for 10 year
Usyks opponent was on a winning streak of 2 fights and unbeaten for 27 month

Fury/Usyk top two and levels above the rest of the Division.
Wilder lost to the no1 in the division and had Fury down a couple of times in the process
Joshua lost to a top five in the division and was behind from start to finish

Based on last opponents and the feeling I’ve always had that Wilder brutally KOs Joshua I would rank Wilder as no3 .

 

Based on AJ's last 2 performances it's just hard for me to see what he does at a truly great level anymore. He had a walking KO in Pulev and took a long time to put him away due to his own reluctance, he dominated the fight but he fought so defensively. Against Usyk he just looked confused the entire night. Say what you want about DW but at least he puts it all on the line to try and win.