What is Deontay Wilder's legacy?

Oh god no, he's definitely not in Lewis's league.

The point is that an inferior fighter with a punchers chance can win - and that's exactly what this would've been.

AJ is no Lewis... But then Wilder probably isn't quite a Rahman overall either.

 

You can't really judge head to head without looking at levels... And you can't look at levels without looking at resumes.

AJ fought his share of mediocre gatekeepers, but he also beat old but still dangerous contenders like Wlad and Pov, pre-prime contenders like Parker and Whyte, etc... Wilder fought primarily journeymen and the absolute highlight was an aging gatekeeper on heart meds.

AJ's resume isn't wonderful, but it's pretty good considering the era it was in... Wilders is shockingly poor even for that same poor era.

None of this doesn't mean Wilder would have a punchers chance, he absolutely would - but AJ was a proven legit champion and legit contender...
Wilder might've been a legit contender (with the pathetic opponents he was fighting, it's hard to consider him a legit champion), but his extremely poor resume provides no evidence for it if he was.

Wilder had no quit in the ring, sure... He also had very limited skills and either no guts to fight decent guys or handlers who had enough control over him to keep him away from them.

However you slice it, Wilders legacy will rightly be extremely tarnished.

 

The gap between Lewis and Rahman was larger than the gap between AJ and Wilder.

Remember, only a 15 second count saved Fury from being knocked out by Wilder and Fury is the better, more fluid boxer than AJ.

If Wilder could catch Fury, he could catch AJ.

He had more than some remote punchers chance against AJ.

AJ was definitely the more schooled fighter but when taken out of what he was good at, he tended to fall apart.

 

I dont buy into any of these guys being afraid of the other.

You don't get into even the top ten without having huge amounts of self belief.

The management teams though...in that era, they were all about maximizing the financial gain for the least amount of risk.

The era would be more highly regarded if more risks were taken.

Too much nationalism and risk aversion. Too much emphasis on promotion rather than letting the fighters settle it in the ring.

Thank God for Usyk. He's a breath of fresh air with his willingness to fight the best in their backyard and for a lesser purse. It's what boxing needed.

 

The gap between their resumes certainly isn't... And the gap between the fighters might not have been either - it's speculation mostly because of how thin Wilders resume is and how much credit you're willing to gift him.

Let me fix that for you:
Remember, only a 15 10 second count saved fat, unfit and extremely ring-rusty Fury from being knocked out by Wilder and Fury is the better (when fit and well conditioned), more fluid boxer than AJ

Fury's dreadful condition reduces any credit Wilder would've deserved for winning and counts against him when you consider he deserved to lose - elite sport is fine margins, giving away advantages and still winning is a massive statement of superiority.

If Wilder could catch fit Fury, he could catch fit AJ... He couldn't catch fit Fury, only unfit Fury - that doesn't tell us he'd have caught AJ.

Realistically, I doubt that - if the fight had happened when it was supposed to there were levels between them.

The problem is, when Wilder was taken out of what HE was good at (journeymen and the odd gatekeeper) he tended to get beaten comfortably...

 

Punchers chance keeps getting brought up. Punchers don’t have careers in chance, it’s a style they have developed to set up the punch.

sounds like wilder had more luck than 20 lottery winners put together. Or he just developed a style that worked.

I think your hatred for wilder clouds your judgement as you refuse to accept anything positive about the guy. he was a warrior, that’s more than you can say about many fighters.
No cheating, no quitting, no peds, no lies, no scams, no ties with criminal fraudsters who manipulated boxing.

 

I understand what you're saying and there's weight in what you've said. But using the eye test he has shocking power and conversely shockingly bad boxing skills. Plus I've always thought if he's THAT bad, what does it say about Tyson Fury wallowing around on the canvas with him several times?

 

His footwork is I believe his single worst boxing attribute, had he learned the art footwork he could have delivered his power with better efficiency.

 

During wlads reign people complained similarly too. And many others. People even complain about Floyd’s resume. Madness

 

I think it causes him a heap loads of problems. They don’t look co-ordinated at all and are clearly his weakest point. Which is crazy as it’s hard to achieve all he did with such a poor fundamental, footwork.
Honestly I’m sure he will have tried to learn as it’s the first thing you start learning in boxing. But not everyone can have good footwork.

The vast majority of fighters have strong points and weak points.
usyk on the other hand does nothing super special but nothing poor, he is good at everything, which makes him special.

 

Good comparison with Wlad, his resume is light as well though Wlad has considerably more boxing skill

 

Agreed.

on the other topic, I do find it baffling people accuse wilder of being untrainable as though they believe everything is “teachable” (I don’t think that’s a word) to an elite level.

not everything can be taught to an elite level in any sport. The student, the teacher, time, talent, natural attributes etc all come into play.
If everything could be taught, there would be many perfect fighters, but there isn’t one.

 

That he should know better than to fight in such a bad state of fitness and preparation?

If unfit Fury is that good/bad, then what does it say about Wilder that he didn't really do much better than a 0-0 novice against unfit Fury?

 

Too bad he got exposed too late in his career. If he had lost his 10th, 15th fight , that might have motivated him to learn a different skill set. Learning early on that one handed power can only take him so far. Fun guy to watch and I always pulled for him.