Comments Thread For: Wilder vs. Wawrzyk Set For February 25 In Birmingham

[PunchyPotorff]

Absolutely pathetic 5th title defense to go along with a pitiful title reign.....top ten hw never available for Wilder! Enjoy fighting on free tv in front of a couple thousand fans in a small arena in ur hometown - the only place u can actually draw a decent audience, while Aj fights Wk in front of 90k in wembly stadium.

Not a fan of Wilder either, but you're way off on the arena. It's in the 20K range and is usually full when he fights. And he pays his opponents peanuts... so IOW he's making serious bank out the wazoo, with little if any challenge, and only an hour from home.

In fact, I wouldn't even call this 'defending' the title. More like storing the belt in the laundry room, and having his pet dachshund guard it. LOL

[Pigeons]

Absolutely pathetic 5th title defense to go along with a pitiful title reign.....top ten hw never available for Wilder! Enjoy fighting on free tv in front of a couple thousand fans in a small arena in ur hometown - the only place u can actually draw a decent audience, while Aj fights Wk in front of 90k in wembly stadium.

He's actually drawn pretty well in Birmingham. His 3 previous fights have been attended by 9K, 8K, and 11K. The only other Americans that can consistently draw that much at home are Crawford in Omaha, Ward in Oakland, and maybe Broner in Cincy.

[Ray Corso]

I think we'll see Wilder step on the gas after this fight. His hand injury can easily become chronic so he will move for money fights fast while he still can.
The hand injury is very real and very serious!
I don't like his "pre-fight persona" and the ring entrance and any of the other "carnival crap" but he is a likable young man when the "character" is off! He also has an edge to him and is a serious young man.
Not sure about him under duress but he seems game to me.

Ray

[KillaCamNZ]

Well the WBC has Wawrzyk ranked at #12. He's well within his rights to fight him. It must be a top 15 WBC fighter. At least he is getting the tuneup out of the way at end of February. That means hopefully a mandatory fight next. Could Stiverne be made mandatory now without fighting because if they wait for Stiverne/Whyte then he will defend again against someone else in WBC top 10 or maybe a unification bout or a fight with Tyson Fury.

His whole career has been tune-ups.

Two years into his reign - and he's going backwards. It's a joke that he's talked and talked about unification, fighting the best, blah blah...and then he settles for the 12th ranked guy in the WBC. I can see it now - he finishes this Wawrzyk fella in the 9th, and in the interview afterwards talks about fighting Joshua to unify, or Fury, or Parker.. while the 'bammy locals cheer and holler for him.

Then he signs up another bum hanging outside the local liquor store.

I simply can't fathom how anyone can defend this guy still.

[joe strong]

His whole career has been tune-ups.

Two years into his reign - and he's going backwards. It's a joke that he's talked and talked about unification, fighting the best, blah blah...and then he settles for the 12th ranked guy in the WBC. I can see it now - he finishes this Wawrzyk fella in the 9th, and in the interview afterwards talks about fighting Joshua to unify, or Fury, or Parker.. while the 'bammy locals cheer and holler for him.

Then he signs up another bum hanging outside the local liquor store.

I simply can't fathom how anyone can defend this guy still.

I'd like to see him fight any of the best guys. Klitschko/Joshua are busy, Fury inactive, Haye is busy with Bellow, Parker just fought a month ago, Povetkin failed a drug test against him & now a second, Pulev doesn't seem interested in fighting anyone near the top as he already turned down the Joshua fight. Wilder has been injured since the summer & is recovering from 2 surgeries. The list of available top fighters out there is pretty small at the moment. Luis Ortiz is already the mandatory for Klitschko/Joshua winner & would be better off waiting for that fight as it either be a massive payday in a mandatory fight or a vacant belt if the winner chooses to go relinquish the WBA title. Ortiz would have to take less money for a Wilder fight & I'm not sure he would do that. Ortiz & Pulev are 2 guys that could be available but it's not like they have been calling out Wilder. Neither is a big draw so I'm assuming Wilder took an easier fight that could be signed quickly because Ortiz & Pulev would want big money which probably make the fights difficult to sign. The WBC doesn't have a mandatory anymore so he wants to cash another easy check at home. Do I like it? No I don't but I been watching this division for a long time & he is doing nothing different than any other champion since Lennox Lewis retired. The last real HW champion who always said mandatories were a thorn in his side while in pursuit of big money fights with the top fighters. His list of voluntaries was pretty impressive. That can't be said about any HW since 2003...

[-Freddy-]

I don't know which fight I'm less interested in this or Eubanks.

It's a shame because I could see Wilder in some exciting match ups.

[////]

Never heard of this guy. Is he molina level or worse?