Why is Deontay Wilder fighting 41 year old Fraudley Harrison?

[-Kev-]

Looks like his handlers are just giving him his first Heavyweight low leveled "name" opponent. As bad as Harrison is at the top level, he is the first "notable" name on Wilder's resume. Good to get that out of the way now rather than later. If we're talking about a proven 30+ fights Wilder fighting some one like Harrison as a big fight, that would be a problem. But we're talking about an unproven fighter at the top level who has yet to take a "step up" fight.

[BostonGuy]

Tyson Fury is a horribly inept fighter, once he fights somebody with a pulse his joy ride is over! Isn't he the guy that punched himself in the face while throwing an uppercut?................ Rockin'

We're talking about Audley Harrison as Wilder's opponent. However, Tyson Fury is a legit hw contender and has proven so with wins over Chisora, Kevin Johnson, Firtha, Pajkic, et al...

[#1Assassin]

this is a good fight for wilder at this stage. its funny how ppl ***** about him not stepping up, then when he does they are still *****ing regardless.

is harrison world class? no, but he is a decent pro, former european champion and two time prizefighter winner, challenged for a world title and fought some good fighters.

wilder has to work his way up to world class competition, you cant just go from tomato cans to boxing top fighters. so this is a good step up for wilder, if anything its too much.

ppl complain about his opposition but lets keep a few things in mind, not only is wilder just 27 which is young for a HW but he got a real late start in boxing. as a result his skills are weak as hell, he is getting by 100% on talent at this point.

so he needs time to improve and learn on the job and since he isnt holding a title hostage whilst doing so he has every right to take his sweet time building up to real fights.

[One_Tycoon]

Wilder's people are over managing him. There is a fine line between good management, moving your guy along just right and purposely holding him back from becoming a contender or mandatory. I guess they're gonna wait it out until he hits his peak at age 30 or something, or till the Klitschko's are done for good. At least one of them.

[PulpFriction]

He wants to keep his spectacular ko 100%.

[Stuntman Mike]

This is a decnt match up actually... Fraudly could expose Wilder or Wilder can showcase a KO and people can compare it to Hayes ko win or prices... He can only fight better after Audley and yes he's moving along slow and maybe Fury's people should have done the same considering John "fat bum" Mcdermott beat Fury in their first outing

Regardless of what anyone thinks about audley.. The guy can **** and on a good night he has a decent jab,straight and power uppercut and is potentially dangerous

[Chris Collins]

It's a step up in class, as sad as that is. I'm quite interested in this fight.

[Hitman932]

This is a decnt match up actually... Fraudly could expose Wilder or Wilder can showcase a KO and people can compare it to Hayes ko win or prices... He can only fight better after Audley and yes he's moving along slow and maybe Fury's people should have done the same considering John "fat bum" Mcdermott beat Fury in their first outing

Regardless of what anyone thinks about audley.. The guy can **** and on a good night he has a decent jab,straight and power uppercut and is potentially dangerous

Wilder is being moved along and built up very similar to JCC Jr.

In fact JCC Jr. fought about 4-5 more bums than Wilder has before stepping up.

I would say that JCC was brought along perfectly. A lot of people shat on him and called him a fraud because he made it to 40 wins without a real challenge and look how it turned out.

Had JCC Jr. been given to Sergio a year earlier, when everyone was crying for him to step up, it would have been an embarrassing massacre.

I for one think Wilder is being brought along perfectly. He is still raw and not because of lack of competition. If he wins a world title someday people will applaud the way he was brought up.

If his team feeds him to a superior fighter now it would accomplish nothing except to satisfy the America haters around here who only want to see him lose and couldn't care less about seeing competitive fights.

[The Gambler1981]

It is simple because that is where he is at in his career. He has been moved just fine because he has obviously improved as a fighter from fight one to where he is currently, the thing to watch in any prospect is not how they are moved it is the progress they make as a fighter because guys will all get moved at different speeds~

If a guy is still improving fighting bums then there is no need to move on as you would be risking all your gains for something marginal, if a guys is stagnating then something different needs to happen but Wilder is obviously a better fighter than he was when he started.

[The Gambler1981]

this is a good fight for wilder at this stage. its funny how ppl ***** about him not stepping up, then when he does they are still *****ing regardless.

is harrison world class? no, but he is a decent pro, former european champion and two time prizefighter winner, challenged for a world title and fought some good fighters.

wilder has to work his way up to world class competition, you cant just go from tomato cans to boxing top fighters. so this is a good step up for wilder, if anything its too much.

ppl complain about his opposition but lets keep a few things in mind, not only is wilder just 27 which is young for a HW but he got a real late start in boxing. as a result his skills are weak as hell, he is getting by 100% on talent at this point.

so he needs time to improve and learn on the job and since he isnt holding a title hostage whilst doing so he has every right to take his sweet time building up to real fights.

Also his best money making attributes are range and power not things that go away with age, he isn't really a speed guy nor is he a guy that trades on his toughness.

So they are pretty much free to take their sweet time