Wilder "a big name" ????!

Which is insane when you think about it. Imagine this scenario in any other sport on the planet. "Sorry team A will not vs team B as it doesn't pay enough, looks like we're the champions again!"

 

Eh, you could argue that a successful title defence against Fury is better. On paper anyway.

But yeah, a victory over Parker and being WBO mandatory should mean Usyk fights Wardley next rather than a washed up Wilder. It's a sham and because it's Usyk people are lapping it up.

 

If you ignore the fact it's a blatant robbery, sure.

But neither a robbery draw nor beating an ancient hypejob is a better line on the resume than beating even a poor version of Parker, IMHO.

Agreed it's silly - Wilder's had a career that didn't warrant ever being a champion or a big name and got to be both... It's a sham, as you say, but that's what it is.

And yes I'd much rather Usyk was fighting the best currently available (underwhelming though they are) than fighting the corpse of a myth.

 

Disregarding the money issue for a moment I don't think Usyk is viewing a potential Wardley fight as either adding to his legacy or motivating him. Wardley doesn't have a big name yet, and the stoppage vs Parker was, uhm, yeah... questionable.

MAYBE if Wardley has 1-2 more quality wins.

I don't want to see Usyk vs Wilder either, but it seems like he wants the legacy names and increase his popularity, since he also wrote a message to Andy Ruiz.

 

The problem is that Usyk doesn't have many names himself and needs genuine contenders to further his legacy. Wilder does not achieve that.