Why does everyone hate Deontay Wilder?

[Real King Kong]

He couldn't even so much as buzz Charlie z.

[Rubber Ducky]

He's disliked for a number of reasons...

Firstly he's poorly promoted and managed. He's been over protected and no true boxing fan puts up with an undefeated contender being over protected and cherry picking opponents on their way to a title shot. This always opens the door for criticism.

Secondly he has failed to live up to people expectations of what a heavyweight world champion embodies. He won the belt and instead of trying to unify he continued to be over protected, facing other Haymon fighters who were overmatched. In comparison Joshua won the belt, fought 2 Haymon fighters in Breazeale and Molina because Haymon had options on him to secure the Martin fight and as soon as Joshua could he tried to unify vs Wlad.

Finally, Wilder knowing he will never be liked by the masses and with a potential huge payday available vs Joshua is now playing the villain. He's making crazy statements about beating Tyson, Lewis etc to firstly grow his profile and secondly to live up to the villain character he is now portraying to build interest in the Joshua fight in the US.

[sweeterscience]

It's more general fatigue with hype-job heavies than hate for Wilder, I think

Fans in The States have been pretty brutal to Wilder. Yeah, I agree he's been largely untested for too long. But the division has been thin and promotional en****** have made a mess of it.

It's stranger to me, the absurd amount of laude and honor (and money) that has been shoveled to Anthony Joshua is even more confounding to me despite the several occasions on which he's appeared to let the darker, uglier side of himself show while pressing this noble and kindly sweetheart image whenever the cameras are rolling.

And all the while, Wilder has been dumped on nonstop while appearing to be good but not great as a fighter and likable enough as a dude. It looks like Wilder won't get any respect until he notches a big victory against Joshua, but that's no sure thing, and at the moment I'd have Joshua as a slight favorite, but I'd be rooting for Wilder. I'm sure I'll hear from the Joshua fan brigade on that.

[Citizen Koba]

I dont get it decent boxing skills, decent personality and a fighters persona, is it for no other reason that hes big and ripped and most heavyweights are fat?

Everyone doesn't. I myself quite like the guy despite the obvious criticism of his shocking resume... but even that is very gradually coming together. He's entertaining for sure and almost always gets the KO... not really much not to like. I think a lot of the 'hate' is really a manifestation of the simmering US/UK rivalry on here.. and honestly ... despite the fact that I don't usually go in for that kind of crap - it probably isn't the worst build up to an eventual Joshua vs Wilder scrap. Unless one of these guys gets KTFO first which is well within the realms of possibility in my book since I suspect both may be hiding a lil china.

[Citizen Koba]

Fans in The States have been pretty brutal to Wilder. Yeah, I agree he's been largely untested for too long. But the division has been thin and promotional en****** have made a mess of it.

It's stranger to me, the absurd amount of laude and honor (and money) that has been shoveled to Anthony Joshua is even more confounding to me despite the several occasions on which he's appeared to let the darker, uglier side of himself show while pressing this noble and kindly sweetheart image whenever the cameras are rolling.

And all the while, Wilder has been dumped on nonstop while appearing to be good but not great as a fighter and likable enough as a dude. It looks like Wilder won't get any respect until he notches a big victory against Joshua, but that's no sure thing, and at the moment I'd have Joshua as a slight favorite, but I'd be rooting for Wilder. I'm sure I'll hear from the Joshua fan brigade on that.

That's interesting, man. I can't pretend to have followed who's been saying what but I had noticed a lot of the **** Wilder gets was coming from my fellow UK fans... I hadn't realised he was getting it from the US fans too. The impression I got was that they were largely indifferent - though as a fighter trying to earn a living I'm not sure what would be worse. I can understand the UK fans dumping on the dude cos of the Joshua rivalry, but why do you reckon US fans are down on him (the obvious criticism of his resume aside)?

[.!WAR MIKEY!.]

Don’t be naive you know why.

I think its more complex than what you are insinuating.

Because the same people who don't like wilder like Joshua and Joshua is a man who has made statements such as "superior black race" etc.

[Rubber Ducky]

Fans in The States have been pretty brutal to Wilder. Yeah, I agree he's been largely untested for too long. But the division has been thin and promotional en****** have made a mess of it.

It's stranger to me, the absurd amount of laude and honor (and money) that has been shoveled to Anthony Joshua is even more confounding to me despite the several occasions on which he's appeared to let the darker, uglier side of himself show while pressing this noble and kindly sweetheart image whenever the cameras are rolling.

And all the while, Wilder has been dumped on nonstop while appearing to be good but not great as a fighter and likable enough as a dude. It looks like Wilder won't get any respect until he notches a big victory against Joshua, but that's no sure thing, and at the moment I'd have Joshua as a slight favorite, but I'd be rooting for Wilder. I'm sure I'll hear from the Joshua fan brigade on that.

It's not strange at all that Joshua has become a big draw and lauded.

He won gold at a home Olympic games you couldn't get a bigger platform than that to start off your career. Though personally I thought he was very lucky to beat Savon, it still made him a well known name in the UK before he even turned pro.

Joshua also looks the part of a heavyweight champion. Huge, muscular, knocks everyone out. He also stepped up and won a belt sooner than people expected, which to be fair was simply down to the stars aligning and Joshua being gifted an easy route to the title.

Joshua also appeared at a time with the British public has immense interest in sports in general. The Olympic games was a tremendous success and all those people that went now want to watch live sport, we're seeing resurgence in popularity in other spectator sports outside of football and Joshua has benefited from this new audience. While Wilder is fighting in a sport in the US that is becoming more niche than ever.

Then of course there was the Wlad fight. It wasn't just the fact he stepped up, proving a lot of naysayers wrong but the manner of the win. After Fury beat Wlad people were talking about how passive the fight was and then the controversial things Fury said which took away from his performance. Joshua/Wlad was a rare hyped fight that exceeded peoples expectations and that along with that how Joshua and Hearn worked the media afterwards saw Joshua reach a level of popularity that I haven't seen in my life time for a British boxer.

Sure the mask has slipped recently with his social media controversy, but it will take more than that to undo all the work put into building Joshua.

[sweeterscience]

That's interesting, man. I can't pretend to have followed who's been saying what but I had noticed a lot of the **** Wilder gets was coming from my fellow UK fans... I hadn't realised he was getting it from the US fans too. The impression I got was that they were largely indifferent - though as a fighter trying to earn a living I'm not sure what would be worse. I can understand the UK fans dumping on the dude cos of the Joshua rivalry, but why do you reckon US fans are down on him (the obvious criticism of his resume aside)?

It's an odd thing. I fully give UK fight fans that they should support Joshua. That's your countryman and he brought the title back to The United Kingdom in a great fight with Klitschko.

I think the fickleness of American fans is probably linked to how many prospects we've had that everyone put the crown on far in advance and then they crashed and burned. And we were so desperate for the next young Mike Tyson that the bar was set way, way too high.

But the desperation for a heavyweight wrecking machine had us putting ridiculous expectations on good fighters like Chris Arreola and Chazz Witherspoon who were never going to be the man at heavy.

[sweeterscience]

American up and comers who could surpass Wilder

If Wilder doesn't pan out after stepping up his opposition, who do you like among prospects?

I'm a fan of Jermaine Franklin, not the biggest heavy in the world, but he seems to have a good chin and a sneaky, big right hook.

I also like Darmani Rock. He is very untested, but he's active and pumps a strong jab in the absence of murderous power.

[Morrie ATG]

Not everyone. Just the haters