Wilder is one of the worst HW champions ever.

Dr. Sleepy will be back for another payday.

Either against AJ in a few months.

Or on Prime Video at the end of next year.

 

If he does return, I think he will fight Franklin next in the hope that he can KO him where AJ could not. They would then be able to sell an AJ-Wilder fight.

But FFS I am hoping against hope that he does not.

 

Wouldn't call his power overrated, but here's a few stats to boggle the mind about Wilder:

• He's fought probably four HW opponents who were legitimately in the top-10 of the division at the time he fought them. This represents a total of eight fights
• He lost the last four of them (two by stoppage)
  
• He won only one of them by outboxing his opponent (Stiverne I in early 2015)
• Across the entirety of the remaining seven fights - he clearly won (AFAIK) exactly one round that did not feature him knocking down or stopping his opponent.

One round.

 

And that even those were dubiously "top 10".

 

I can’t even really call him a “champion”, he’s beaten no top fighters, ever lol…He’s ****…And Fury tried to make it seem like he beat an all-time great two times in Wilder ha ha ha…The cokehead beat a no-skill bum tomato can and he still got knocked down multiple times and got only a draw in the first fight…Fury’s legacy took a massive hit tonight…It was already shaky after that Ngannou debacle but now it’s fallen off a cliff. Usyk has a chance to expose the cokehead and finish his career once and for all, I hope he’s successful.

 

This is all true.

I guess the sense in which Wilder was the "worst" champion of the era is that, unlike the others you mention, he held his belt hostage for years on end - ducking contenders, avoiding unifications, etc.

Belts should be used to regularly make good fights - they're a golden ticket to a solid resume, in the hands of serious fighters... When a fighter has a belt for a long time and still has a paper thin resume, you have to admit something's not right there?

 

Can crusher. Have been saying it for years.

 

I think Stiverne scrapes into the top-10 in 2015. Luis Ortiz in 2018 does. Ditto Fury in 2018-2021. Parker is top-10 now.

 

His biggest career win was a draw with Fury.

Let that sink in.

 

So if we go by this logic then Wilder's resume is even worst than it is. Since his best win was a 38 year old Ortiz. According to you Wilder's lost shouldn't mean much since fighters are in decline at this age. SO his Ortiz win shouldn't mean much. His next best win is Stiverne? Yikes that is a shitty resume.

 

Stiverne in '15 is arguably just about top 10.

Same for Ortiz in '18 - the division was thin, but so was Ortiz resume... Fringe top ten maybe, but certainly nowhere remotely near the 4/5 he was rated at the time.

Fury and Parker yes, but they were too good for him.

 

I think it would be hard to name 4 or 5 boxers clearly ahead of Ortiz at the time Wilder first fought him.

AJ, Wilder (by virtue of stopping Oritz, himself ). Fury was still whipping himself back into shape...but I'll place him ahead of Ortiz. After that? Maybe Whyte, Maybe Parker...but they were not clearly better at the time.

Andy Ruiz Jr only beat Ortiz by a couple points when they fought in 2021, after all.

People complain about the state of the division now...but it wasn't deep in 2018.

 

Oh for sure it wasn't deep... But Ortiz resume was always poor.

AJ and Wilder definitely.
Whyte and Parker - cmon, definitely.
Povetkin - definitely.

There's 5 and dead easy too.

Pulev, Ruiz realistically were better as well.


Ortiz really wasn't that good, we've just been fed nonsense about him being an avoided boogeymen for so long that many just accept it... But his resume was paper thin all the same.

 

Will definitely give you Povetkin (forgot about him).

Around that time Parker was dropping rounds to the likes of Cojanu and creeping past the likes of Hughie Fury. Not a good time for Parker, so I can't rate him ahead of Ortiz. Pulev is questionable. Whyte probably gets fed the same uppercut Ortiz fed Jennings. Remember that Whyte chose to fight Parker instead of fighting Ortiz for the WBC mandatory.

Ruiz Jr was strictly a counterpuncher by then - so I would not give him an obvious advantage. If Ruiz Jr had kept up his excellent pressure fighter game (in 2016 he was probably the 2nd best pressure fighter in the division, trailing only Povetkin) - he would have had a good shot.

So my final list would be:

AJ, Wilder, Fury, Povetkin as definitely ahead of him. Pulev and Ruiz Jr on par with him. Parker, Whyte would be just behind him.