Comments Thread For: Holyfield: Wilder Still Growing, We Must Give Him Time

[Tom Cruise]

I dont buy that Povetkin would bring all this "pressure". The shots he will take trying to come in on Wilder will discourage that quickly..

Not what I saw vs Duhuapas.

Duhuapas was much more basic than Povetkin and he was able to walk in and land shots, even while taking Wilders punches.

[New England]

I dont buy that Povetkin would bring all this "pressure". The shots he will take trying to come in on Wilder will discourage that quickly..

i agree, but wilder hasn't put a 12 round performance on other than stiverne fight, where he did look vulnerable.

he needs experience to be able to performe at a high level for 12 rounds. right now he fights in spots. whe he does put jabs, power punches, and movement together he's a tough pill to swallow.

[BWC]

wilder's not really "growing" any longer. he will "fill out." he's not going to be lean like a 20 year old forever. i don't like the choice of words. wilder needs to "develop," which is much more a product of work in the gym than it is of growth hormone being excreted from your CNS and into your blood.


i don't think he's going to benefit much physically from taking more time. he will, however, benefit from taking more time to learn more about boxing.


wilder still boxes like a novice. he's slowly starting to figure this thing out. if you're that size, and you can move and jab like that, there's a ton of potential. there's really no HW on the planet with that kind of speed and athletic quality. joshua is large, but he's not as snappy with his movements, particularly of the feet. he's a bit more of a plodder. klitshcko has the boxing skill, and he's certainly got the power, but he used to tire out when he got on his toes, and had to change his style after the brewster fight, when trying to be an athletic fighter and a fast starter backfired on him.



some of you don't know what you're looking at, or simply want wilder to lose, and you want to throw him to the wolves right away. that's bad for wilder's career, and it's bad for boxing. i understand that he won a world title alphabet belt [by whitewashing a solid fighter, btw ], and that a lot of you think he shouldn't be moved carefully because of that. there's some merit to that idea, but it i loses a lot of water when you realize just what an alphabet organization is. they rank fighters based on who brings them the heaviest paper bag filled with cash. really. that's what they do. now they've started to strip and "promote" champions based on the size of the cash bag

most of the resentment toward wilder, who has only recently started to have fights that went longer than a round or two, comes from people who want to see him matched to lose. that's not what you do when you move a fighter


i also see people around here talking about wilder's talent like it is common in the division. i see people saying povetkin is just as talented . povetkin is going to throw jabs and hooks at wilder and they're going to come up 6 inches short. i'd pick wilder to lose to povetkin now. in two years, i'd probably pick him to knock povetkin out. i can't say that he'll improve with a degree of certainty, but the flashes that i've seen, that i know that he can produce, will become much more frequent.


talent in the HW division starts with size. i don't care how well povetkin boxes, he'll never have an 80-84 inch reach, and he won't be closer to 7 feet tall than he is to 6. wilder is a talented athlete. he's not an experienced boxer yet.

I'd love to see the stats of HW fights where one fighter had a 8-9" reach advantage and who won. My guess it's 90-10 for the reachier fighter.

I agree that you need to be AT LEAST like 6-4. 80" reach to even be competitive in the HW division anymore. All the top guys are freaking giants. Wlad, Wilder, Fury, Joshua.

I'm skeptical Sasha can even get past Wach..

[Tom Cruise]

holyfield started his pro career a few lbs over the LHW limit, was a LHW on the '84 olympic team. he was a 190 lb cruiserweight for a while as well, and a world champion.


he was 220ish at the end of his career. for most of his prime he was around 210 lbs or less. wilder's not going to be 220 lbs when he's 40. he doesn't look loose in the least when he's 230 at appromiately 30 years old.

Thats fair I actually just looked at Holy;s boxrec and he was lighter than I remembered.

Still would not describe Wilder as a big HW. In terms of weight he is average sized.

[BWC]

Not what I saw vs Duhuapas.

Duhuapas was much more basic than Povetkin and he was able to walk in and land shots, even while taking Wilders punches.

That's just it. That seems to the "go-to" strategy against Wilder since Stiverne. Try to walk Wilder down. Problem is Wilder is much, much better off his back foot than people give him credit for. Duhaupas is also quite a bit bigger than Sasha. Sasha will get murdered trying to come in on Wilder..

[Tom Cruise]

I agree that you need to be AT LEAST like 6-4. 80" reach to even be competitive in the HW division anymore. All the top guys are freaking giants. Wlad, Wilder, Fury, Joshua.
.

Most of Wlads more competetive (I use that term loosely) fights have been with guys who are shorter though. Not all had huge reach either. The guys who beat him were not that tall either.

He has absolutely wrecked the taller fighters he has fought.

[Tom Cruise]

That's just it. That seems to the "go-to" strategy against Wilder since Stiverne. Try to walk Wilder down. Problem is Wilder is much, much better off his back foot than people give him credit for. Duhaupas is also quite a bit bigger than Sasha. Sasha will get murdered trying to come in on Wilder..

Duhuapas is like 4 pounds heavier than Povetkin and no where near as skilled.

[skinnystev]

just think of the havoc a prim mike tyson would wreak on the alabama jackass

[SN!PER]

Old man Holyfield thinks anyone under 40 years old is still a boy.