Deontay Wilder Turning Pro

Did you even watch any of his fights? He is clumsy very easy to hit and only has a right hand which in my opinion is not very good. In his last fight the short italian guy made him look like a complete fool.

 

No it is not hating. If he drastically improves I will hold my hands up, but if he became a force without actually changing much it would show how crap the division is.
For example I think Haye can become a force at Heavy despite his dodgy chin, leaky defence etc...

In Tyson or Lewis or any of the good eras he would be battered. He would have a tiny chance of being a Herbie Hide type, but now he has a great shot at being a genuine world champ, it wont be because he has ironed out all the flaws he had, but because the division is gash.

He is a better fighter than he was, but how good he is would still not cut it in the Heavyweight divisions gone by.

I certainly do not hate Wilder, not at all. I know very little about him as a person and have nothing to make me dislike him.

 

the man's 22 for christ's sake. he's got good height and an 85 inch reach.
only been boxing for 3 years and very raw.

can we at least wait till he get's some pro fights in before completely writing him off? I don't think that's too unreasonable to ask.

then again I'd have to be slightly pessimistic toward Wilder's hopes as

Jason Estrada and Travis Walker who have both been professionals for 4 years
haven't really made that "big splash" despite having pretty good records.

so based on that ^ American Heavyweight's have turned out pretty badly but Wilder does have potential, ability and youth on his side.

 

First of all, thanks OBCboxer and Mrboogie23 for the kind words.

Strike, I think you make some sound points. I believe there was more talent in the 91 kg division than you imply, but the draw had many of them fighting in the first or second round. Wilder was able to avoid anyone of note until the quarterfinal match. To that point, you are right: he beat rather pedestrian competition. In those bouts, he wasn't a particularly fluid or diverse fighter.

The lack of anything significant in his arsenal other than the 1-2 is probably part of the reason that he looked poor. However, when he was able to find his range and let those shots loose, particularly in the first round, he demonstrated good power, at least in my eyes. He did visibly stun his opponent twice.

The strength claim I made is based on reports that I heard from Kolya, our resident American amateur expert.

I must respectfully disagree with you about the height and length. At 6'7" he is taller than Wladimir Klitschko. Plus, his reach is also longer than either of the Klitschko brothers. Other than the Klitschkos and Valuev, most of the top heavyweights are not taller than 6'3". This is especially true of the youngers crop. The only one of note that has great height is Alexander Dimitrenko. Peter, Povetkin, Solis, and Haye are all 6'3" or less. Cris Arreola, who a lot of people don't even like, is barely 6'4" and does not have near the reach of Wilder. I believe with good coaching, he would have a significant advantage over almost any heavyweight on the outside. Obviously, there are a lot of things that go into that, but he has the gifts that can't be taught.

 

I wish him luck we need a good American Heavyweight.

 

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Sorry, I meant THIS is the new force!

 

He should have stayed amateur another year. I really wanted to see him fight Jeremiah Graziano.

 

Is he someone projected to be a U.S. representative at 91 kg or +91 kg?

 

No, Jeremiah will probably turn pro soon. If I was forced to describe him, I'd just say "bad-ass mother****er".

 

Bad ass mother****ers are what we need. What's the physical makeup of this young man?

 

He's about 5'10 or 5'11 a nd 201. He fights in a Mike Tyson mold. I know you hear that a lot, but he really does. I saw him warming up on the mitts at a tournament recently and realized it was him without seeing his face. I asked another coach from my state if it was him and he said "Yeah, that's Jeremiah....he's a baaad dude."

 

Yeah, he can stiffen up a bit at times. He did real good at USAs this year though. From my people who saw it thought; they thought Sifo Sua beat him at the Gloves; that's one tough Polynesian dude (Utah seems to have a fair few of them for some reason).