He did reach his full potential, if not even surpassed it thanks to years of record padding and a manufactured title run. I don't see any real reason to believe he could have been much more successful than he was. There are plenty of guys out there who are tall, hit hard, are decently athletic etc etc.
Funny how everyone loves downplaying his Ortiz win claiming Ortiz was old. Ortiz was 37.
Wilder right now is 40
Chisora is 42 and people hype him up still
Zhang is 42 and you still get people mentioning who he should fight
Usyk is 38
Fury is 37
Yet you never here anyone love to attach 'old' to their names in these discussions yet when Ortiz was 36-37 all you heard is how old he was (anyone claiming he was older than stated has 0 proof of it)
If Amir Khan had a diamond hard chin? If Paulie Mailinaggi had punching power? We can do this all day forever.if Floyd had iron hands with one punch ko power to go with his iron chin
it’d be ILLEGAL for Floyd to box
One punch ko power Floyd wow no one would stand a chance
This is Nash out from the BoxingScene Hall of Fame. You've all heard of me. Prime Wilder ended after Fury 1, so he had all those wins, knockouts, and a draw with prime Fury, who is the best ever, so prime Wilder is the second best HW of all time. Also the only man to beat Prime Ortiz and X2. Prime Ortiz is the 4th best of all time behind Usyk. Nash out - His Majesty
If Wilder had a great trainer listened, worked on his combinations and had good defence how great he could’ve been ?
All he had to do was listen to Mark Breland.
He was improving, but after his Fury II meltdown, he refused to take any accountability & fired the one guy who knew what he was doing.
He never beat anyone any good. Old man Ortiz had him out on his feet and would have KO'd him if the ref hadn't literally given Wilder an extra minute for no reason and saved him.
I give Wilder credit for trying in the Fury fights but Fury isn't some all time great, he is just a good boxer for his height. That trilogy was fun and made me like Wilder more than before for not quitting.
But Wilder fought awful comp his entire career and he got obliterated when he faced an actually good boxer. For his skill level and being a twig he got way more out of his abilities than he would have had he fought good comp coming up. He was the definition of a protected hypejob for most of his career.
I'd say he did reach his full potential. I don't think his body had a natural 'chemistry' that could have made him a great boxer even if he started early. The legs and mind-muscle connection just wasn't there, he was too lanky for the right movement.
What he did get out of his body is exactly what made him successful. Charging in fast with explosive right hands while picking the right moments, that was his talent. That, powered by a ruthless killer instinct and heart is what made him what he was.
It's all shoulda coulda at this point but yea, a well schooled disciplined heavy with that explosive power and athletic ability, combined with skills, discipline, and strategy would have made huge achievements in the game.
I remember before his fights with Fury I would tell my fight loving friends that were all on his jock that his lack of defense skills, reliance on power, atrocious footwork, and not being a student of the fight game, will be his undoing.
For starting late in the sport he did OK, could have done more.