Wilder should be fecking nowhere near that.
Fury
Usyk
AJ
Whyte
I’m not convinced I’d even stick Wilder next, the only two fighters of any worth he’s fought are Ortiz (meh) and he’s been schooled 3 times by Fury and knocked out twice by his pillow hands, such a poor boxer he is. Usyk, AJ and even Whyte have better CV’s.
Considering that outrageous chin on Ruiz, I’d put money on him wiping out Wilder.
I’m with you. Wilder has only fought one serious fighter in his prime, Fury, and he lost all three. We saw his true level in that second fight. Last night was skewed by one right hand in the fourth. Otherwise he got absolutely battered. Dangerously battered. The amount of blows he took to the head were genuinely frightening. I’ve never seen a so called “elite” boxer as east to hit as Wilder.
Fury is clearly the king of the division and Usyk is clearly the best technician. AJ is a bit of a conundrum but remains the third best HW out there for now. So much rides on his performance in the Usyk rematch, for which I think going in as an underdog will suit him better. The hype around him has been far too much because he clearly has significant deficiencies, but he’s now being massively underrated after a loss to an all time great, and possibly the best pound for pound fighter in the world.
Wilder by contrast is suddenly being overrated after landing one good right and then being a piñata for 7 rounds. Like having the ability to repeatedly take massive blows to the head is suddenly an elite skill that carries him to victory over Usyk or AJ. Yes, he’ll always have the power to knock down his opponent, but he’s also ridiculously easy to hit, and against someone with more power than Fury, is in just as much - if not more - danger of being knocked out. After the pummelling he took last night, I would also question his future ability, or even desire, to absorb any meaningful punishment.
I think it also has to be remembered that Fury’s optimal skill set is to use his size and to outbox his opponent with slippery defence and unparalleled head movement for a man his size. Traditional Fury would’ve outboxed Wilder to three unanimous decisions, and Wilder wouldn’t have laid a glove on him. But Fury fought the last two fights on Wilder’s terms, changed his style and made it a slug fest - all to Wilder’s advantage, leaving him with opportunities to hit Fury that he never would normally have had. The result - brutally knocked out in both fights. Battered to shit. By a man famously dubbed “pillow hands”, fighting out of his element, and away from home. Fury would never fight Usyk or even Joshua like that. He’d lean on Usyk all fight and exhaust him, and he’d simply outfox Joshua behind his jab.
The only way up for Wilder from here, is if he fights his way through the top ten, and I don’t think he emerges from that with a career intact. His best chance of a big pay day is Usyk successfully defending the titles against Joshua and he and AJ having a showpiece “best of the rest”, slugger fest. By that time though, he’s 37 and more beaten up. Furthermore, unless he changes his training and conditioning, he’s going to get consistently beaten by every top fighter. His right hand is ridiculously telegraphed, and he spent all pre fight talking up his bench press. Like adding upper body muscle was going to help him. He should’ve stacked muscle on his chicken legs, to withstand Fury leaning on him, and kept the rest of him light. Rubbish boxer, rubbish trainer.