Deontay Wilder vs. Tyrrell Anthony Herndon set for June 27th in Wichita, Kansas.

The Povetkin fight was actually a done deal. Wilder was in Russia when Povetkin got busted for PED´s.
To the WBC´s credit at the time, they ordered the damn purse bid and Wilder had to take the fight.

So no, Wilder did not avoid Povetkin.
I agree with everything else tho. They milked the **** out of that title reign.

 

To be fair, in context of what I was replying to "avoiding Povetkin" pretty much means "not going back to make the Povetkin fight again".

You're right though. He didn't choose to avoid him, he got let off - and very much for the better, at least as far as his career went (probably not as far as the health of the division went).

 

He really wasn't.

Managers got him a belt, 10 title defenses, the KO rate record and snuck him into a conversation with Ali, Louis, Holmes and Klitschko he didn't belong in. This is not to mention the money. They did an amazing job might actually be the greatest managers ever.

What manager is thinking of their fighters "legacy"? They want them to become champion and once they become champion they want them to stay champion. These guys did that to the best of their ability. If a fighter gets to the point where they are thinking about their legacy it means their manager successfully navigated the ladder for them.

 

Spot on.

The only place I'd disagree, slightly, is that managers are primarily after the money and getting their fighter to earn as much as possible (so they get as much cut as possible) - understandable.

What this means is that if fighters want legacy, they might well have to fight their own management to get chances to make legacy - especially if management isn't as confident as the fighter is that they can actually make it.


When it comes to extracting lots of money from mediocre talent, whoever was handling Wilder deserves a whole sheet of gold stars.

 

I see it from the perspective that he could have beaten better fighters and had them on his resume, kind of like AJ, manufactured bum but to the average pleb they think his resume is good.

 

So on the basis that he barely squeezed past Ortiz (and not without help) - who are the better fighters who would've topped his resume?

Their resumes are leagues apart and you know it - there are elements of AJ that were manufactured, but his resume is miles better than Wilder's is or ever could've been.

 

Wilder will get a quick KO and his delusional fanboys will claim him to be back

#bumsquad

 

Wilder also did his part, by always coming into fights ripped to the bone and looking like a killer, and always gunning for the KO. I give him credit for that at least. He never dialled it in or gave a play it safe performance (that's not a knock on AJ or anyone else; they were operating on a different level to him for most of their career).

 

That's the point i'm making, his resume is better but he's still a BUM. He was managed better by Eddie Hearn....but even with that level of managment fighting on paper low power fighters (Ruiz & Usyk) he got chinned off. Surprising he fought Dubious really, him and eddie knew though, looking at that ring walk it was a bodybuilder to a slaughterhouse.

 

McCall ko's him.

 

Fun fact McCall is the highest rated HW with more losses than Chisora. He won his title 30 years ago.

 

Herndon would be a perhaps acceptable opponent for Oliver McCall in his "fight until 60" tour. But for Wilder? ...absurd.

 

The 2026 Wilder-McCall build up to the $89.95 pay per view would....nay.....will be epic

 

AJ and Fury both fought Ngannou, at the 'top' of their games, or near it. I've no problem with Wilder rebuilding against guys like this. Foreman did similar in his comeback, and no, I'm not making a comparison between the two, but going out on the road and having fights might be a better plan than having trainers and sparring partners kissing your arse in camp and shouting Bomb Squad every ten minutes...

 

Idk, AJ was probably already on the slide by then and Fury didn't even bother training enough to turn up fit.

I guess the question is what constitutes a "comeback" - the term kinda implies there's something to come back to...
In Wilder's case - well, he's not going to get gifted another belt and some soft defences at his age, nor is he realistically going to strengthen his resume in any meaningful way... Which means all there is to come back to is knocking out mediocre fighters and shouting "Bomb Squad"... This might be an especially mediocre fight, but if it gets him back to knocking out proper journeymen again he can still make some cash and provide some entertainment.

I guess the thing that'll divide opinion, also, is where Wilder's level ever was - it's a long way down from Parker, Zhang, Fury to this, but he never beat those kinda guys.