What is Deontay Wilder's legacy?

Yes, he did take less money to fight fury instead of AJ.

I was putting context into that, as it actually puts him in a positive light. If you ignore the context, it looks negative.

The temptation of money didn’t convince him to let go of his word and agreement already in place with fury.

 

Where is the evidence for that? Fury goes down from cruiserweights so not a good yardstick. Duhappas took every shot from wilder and kept coming. He didn’t really fight people who can take a heavyweight punch. In my opinion of course

 

He fought a finished Audley Harrison in his 28th (!!) fight. Says it all really. Fun to watch though.

 

Ranks among the Top 10 all-time among heavyweight champions in terms of longest single reign, most consecutive successful title defenses, and highest KO percentage, despite the fact that he was outweighed by everyone he faced the last 12 years of his career.

Went undefeated for 12 straight years. Ended up being one of the highest paid athletes in the sport's history.

Deontay Wilder was ranked no lower than #3 contender in the Ring ratings from January 2015 to December 2023. That's eight years in a row among the top three contenders.

Every month, year in and year out, for eight years in a row.

Sometimes he was higher than #3 contender. But he was never lower than #3 contender. You'd be hard-pressed to find many guys consistently ranked that high for so long. That's incredible.

Probably should've fought at some point as a cruiserweight. His amateur peers (Beterbiev and Usyk) decided to fight in the lighter ranks for most of their careers. If he'd fought as a cruiser instead of as a heavyweight (as even the cruiserweight champs moving up routinely weigh more than him), he probably would've been the Bob Foster of that division.

There was no one really like him, which is why people have a hard time knowing where to put him in terms of a historical perspective.

Arguably the greatest one-punch KO artist ever in a division where every ranked fighter was heavier than him.

Now, like many others, he's hanging on too long (39 and counting). Should've remained retired after the last Fury fight.

One of those fighters who fans will debate about as long as boxing is a sport.

 

No he didn't. He would have been too much to deal with if he learned to work behind his jab. Set up his offense behind his jab. Use his jab as a defensive tool. Head movement, proper foot placement. All these little things are what allow a fighter to be in range to use their offense or stay out of range of their opponent. See Bivol. Imagine Wilder fighting like that? I know, Wilder did not have the ametuer background that Bivol had, but, with his power, he could have had a tremendous career if he learned just more of the basics instead of relying on his power.

 

Wilder - dangerous, ignorant, likeable (too an extent), had heart, lacking IQ, in denial, good to watch or should I saying watchable, explosive exciting KO freakish power....a fighter who was generally not well refined.....carefully managed....the list goes on.

He will be remembered.

 

I’ve said before he’s probably going to the hall of fame. His legacy is he’s one of the hardest punchers to ever live. He brought some excitement to the sport and he had a lengthy title reign. He also has said things that left a bad taste in some people’s mouths like how he wanted to kill someone in the ring, the excuses made after the second Fury fight, etc. He’s also been heavily criticized as a champion who for whatever reason, didn’t fight enough top competition as champion. So there’s positives and negatives. The people who like Wilder will align more with the former and the one's that dislike him will align more with the latter.

 

We weren't, really.

We were robbed of an undisputed match between a flawed but legit champ and a can-crushing fraud... But in some ways, that's not a bad thing either - you can't truly say either man deserved to go down as an undisputed champ.

As far as the best heavies fighting each other... Wilder just ain't there - Joshua beat several guys that were beyond Wilder.

 

He'll go down as one of the most protected belt holders in history - a long reign during which he didn't beat a single legit contender as was, himself, probably not really good enough to feature among the top 5 of his era.

Entertaining on the one hand, but a stain on the sport on the other with his ducking, desire for a body and hopelessly poor resume.

 

For awhile they were the best three HWs out there.

Wilder gave Fury all he could handle in three fights and came close to knocking the big man out.

It would have been a great little tournament.

Whatever you think of those guys, they were considered the best three out there and the best should fight the best.

Who would have done what to who is all conjecture as the fights didn't happen.

The era can be categorized by more posturing and avoidance than fighting.

 

A guy who was gifted a shot at greatness and didn't even attempt it.

 

Nah, Wilder was never up with AJ, Povetkin, Whyte or Parker... Fury coming back pushed him even further down the list.

There's a reason Wilder was avoiding all legit contenders when he had his belt - he knew he'd lose.
The only reason he fought Fury at all was he looked like a ripe cherry for the picking - and even in terrible shape Fury should've won the first and did win the third... If Wilder had been legit, Fury would've needed to at least be somewhere near fully fit.

Wrongly in Wilders case, but sure, the best should fight the best - that's how you find out who's really up there and expose the frauds.

Up to a point, but there are strong indicators of what was likely - and when one is consistently ducking the others, it's completely reasonable to conclude there's a good reason for that.

Wilder never beat a legit contender in his whole career.
Neither did I, but you're not seriously going to put me in that conversation because I never proved how good I was - that's completely backwards, if you want to be considered and remembered as real you have to damned well prove it.

 

Was Ruiz up there? Lol. Wilder had as much of a chance as Ruiz for sure.

 

Fury with no titles and for less money.

Wilder turned down undisputed for that lol.

 

He had Mark Breland as a trainer for years and just never was able to learn.

He had freakish power and good athleticism but was lacking in whatever it is that allows someone to pick up the sweer science.

Saying if only could have learned the fundamentals is like saying, if only Jerry Quarry was a foot taller and 40 lbs heavier he would have been unbeatable.

Neither were going to happen.