Donovan Ruddock Vs Deontay Wilder

I can’t believe we’re actually in agreement.

But yeah it’s insane the amount of people who think Wilder ducked Whyte when Whyte was the one who avoided two eliminators.

 

Eddie planned on matching Whyte against Joshua for the entire time, but Joshua getting stopped by Ruiz and losing to Usyk and Whyte getting laid out by Povetkin wasn't in the playbook, so he cashed him out against Fury.

 

I also think Eddie Hearn kept Joshua away from wilder for years

 

Too soon...those Fury fights might have ended both of them.

 

Someone on this forum briefly summarized what happened with Whyte and his title shot, here it is:

TLDR: Whyte v Ortiz being for a second mandatory position was obvious BS. Seemingly, the PBC/WBC's goal was to muddy the water enough, that enough people ignored them successfully blocking Whyte's route to Wilder.

Granted all this was extremely messy and convoluted, but below are some CliffsNotes of the time line. It is far murkier than what is below. A lot of behind the scenes politics and conflict of interest involving joint PBC-WBC execs-advisors with financially invested interests in Wilder.

2016
WBC Title eliminator 1: Chisora v Whyte 1
Whyte wins
Cancelled Final Eliminator: Stiverne v Povetkin
Final Eliminator: Stiverne v ???

2017
Whyte puts himself forward. Don King is allowed to choose the PBC's Dominic Breazeale as a stand-in.
Cancelled Final Eliminator: Stiverne v Breazeale
Stiverne elevated to mandatory to fight Wilder.
But now Breazeale holds a contracted fight as a final eliminator.
Negotiations begin for Breazeale v Whyte.
PBC don't like the offer. Look for an opponent for Breazeale
WBC Silver title: Whyte v Helenius
Whyte wins
Title Eliminator 2: Breazeale v Molina
Breazeale wins

2018
Logically...
Final eliminator: Breazeale (#2) v Whyte (#1)

Wilder DMs Whyte he will never have to fight him. (Believe that or not, but just some background)

Tail wagging the dog:
PBC/Wilder floats the idea that Whyte should fight Ortiz instead. Ortiz (PBC) having lost to Wilder as a voluntary defence. The WBC agree and try to make Breazeale (PBC) mandatory and order Whyte v Ortiz (PBC) for second mandatory.

Legal action
Whyte threatens legal action. WBC back down, obviously.

2019
WBC finally order
Final eliminator: Breazeale v Whyte

Fury pulls out of immediate rematch. Breazeale (PBC) is elevated to mandatory status. Ortiz (PBC) gets a rematch anyway. WBC suggest Whyte v Fury. Negotiations don't go anywhere.

Final eliminator: Whyte v Rivas
Whyte wins
WBC puts his title shot against Wilder on hold based off media reports of a failed drug test. He is cleared. Yada yada.
Whyte is mandatory

2020
Wilder v Fury 2 > Fury is now champion
Whyte loses to Povetkin
Povetkin is mandatory
2021
Fury v Wilder 3
Whyte beats Povetkin
Whyte is mandatory
2022
Fury v Whyte

5.5 years from Whyte winning the initial WBC title eliminator to actually getting a title shot. Not at Wilder, but at Fury. Imho, Wilder/PBC wanted nothing to do with Whyte.

 

Wilder and his camp themselves admitted they rejected the deal with DAZN that included 2 AJ fights. Not to mention rejecting 2 offers beforehand.

 

This isn't how it went. Whyte needed to fight Ortiz to become mandatory. He fought Chisora instead. Stiverne became mandatory after Povetkin failed a PEDs test and their fight got cacnelled. Breazeale also had a guarantee to a shot.

Whyte would be swimming in lawsuit money if he were a victim.

 

I agree with all of this Wilder or his team definitely avoided Whyte and that is a fact.

Whyte went on a decent string of victories over Parker, Chisora x2, Rivas 28-0, Wach, Helenius, Browne, and whilst he did have the loss to Povetkin which he revenged. Whyte definitely should've got a shot prior to fighting Povetkin anyway.

Would Whyte of beaten Wilder ? i'm not entirely sure i'd probably make Wilder the favourite. But then again Whyte would be the 2nd best opponent he's ever beaten.

 

Whyte would have no chance and anyone who isn’t British knows it. And he’d be third best.

 

I'd give Whyte a 25 percent chance he probably gets chinned but he could maybe use his extra weight and maul Wilder.

Who is Wilder's 2nd best win ? Striverne ? I think Whyte has a better resume than him and a fight between them is 50/50.

Whyte's win over Parker looks considerably better now considering hes beaten Zhang and Wilder.

 

Stiverne was a champion who was near the top of the Ring rankings, favored to beat Wilder, and coming off back to back wins over peak Arreola. Whyte never made it to the level that Stiverne was at for the night of the Wilder fight.

Whyte’s win over Parker wasn’t legit. Parker took the fight on short notice after fighting Joshua bc $ talks and “lost” because he got concussed by a headbutt that was ruled a knockdown before the ref let a wobbly Whyte play octopus in round 12 without even issuing a warning. Parker’s current form has nothing to do with it.

 

Stirverne won a vacated belt from Arreola who he'd already beaten in his previous fight. Yes Stirverne was ranked briefly higher than Whyte and did become a champion. But Whyte wasn't given the same opportunity as Stirverne to fight a guy for a vacant title who he'd already beaten. Not to mention Stirverne went on to lose 5 out of his next 6 fights and then swiftly retired. Whyte was only given 1 title shot against Fury after being given the run around for numerous years taking on banana skin fights.

It's just a case of one fighter not being given the easier route to win a belt Whyte was also ranked in the top 5 for 4 years.

 

Wilder KO, Ruddock was too straight up and was often basic on the outside, I see wilder landing that right hand at some point.

 

Why are people still trying to claim that Fury was the best heavyweight in the world at the time he faced Wilder. It's not at all clear that was ever the case.

 

Who at the time had a better case other than Wilder himself?
Joshua, a mere 6 months later lost to an unranked Ruiz. That doesn’t bode well for his case.