The myth that Wilder can't box

[_Rexy_]

Still dudes like Rid**** Bowe were all over the place.

There has always been one of those guys with no fundimentals that crush the division it seems. People are just acting like Wilder is the first. If Bowe took boxing seriously...damn

[JAB5239]

Still dudes like Rid**** Bowe were all over the place.

Bowe was a highly skilled fighter who could fight both inside and out. His problem was he lacked motivation and discipline. I would also categorize him as a 90's fighter though he did turn pro in '88.

[JAB5239]

True. Which supports my point on other threads that this is the weakest HW division in the history of the sport. In terms of skill level, competition, and excitement. Fans thought it was bad during the Holmes era when we had Dokes, Weaver, Greg Page, Tex Cobb, Cooney, etc., but at least many of them had boxing fundamentals. There was also some decent talent like Shavers, Young, Snipes, Spinks. There weren't as many mismatches either.

The skill level in heavyweight boxing has fallen off badly since the late 90's. There have been some very good fighters, but as a whole it's dwindled because skills have deteriorated and been replaced with size. Stamina has gone down because of size, and nowadays a single loss either sets a guy up to cash out or they're simply unwilling to work their way back to being a challenger because they can fight often enough. A sad state of affairs indeed.

[Cutthroat]

Skill is overridden by size/power most of the time. Foreman had one of the WORST defenses of all time, out of ALL weight classes and he thrived because he was flat out more physically gifted than 90% of his opponents.

Anyone who thinks Wilder can't box is fooling themselves, who can you honestly compare to Wilder? I heard Gerry Cooney's name earlier, don't make me laugh.

Wilder has never been down more than 3 rounds in a fight before he KO's his opponents.

[Stinger1]

Wilder's criticism comes from when he was finishing guys in the past. Anytime you see them say "his fundamentals are trash or he's windmilling" doesn't come from his style. The Washington fight is why they say what they say.

No its not, his technique is bad full stop. But thats part of what makes him so dangerous and difficult to deal with. Look at the last round of the Ortiz fight, Wilder leans back as Ortiz throws a 1,2 and Ortiz probably thinks Wilder isn't a position to counter but somehow despite being completely off balance he managed to generate amazing power into a right hook which stunned Ortiz. Wilder nearly fell over with only the ropes keeping him on his feet. Look at the video from 2:25 onwards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWNBVnscSho

There is no world champion in history that would throw a punch like that.

[LacedUp]

There is a misconception that Wilder can't box, but this is far from the truth. When bashing Wilder skills people usually bring up the Szpilka, Washington and Ortiz fights as he clearly dominated the others (okay, he lost control for 10 seconds against Molina).
Szpilka: A fast southpaw, natural enemy for a one-two puncher with little amateur experience, started the fight with a lead of 18-6 power the first three rounds. By than Wilder started to adapt turning the tables and landing more punches at total, what is visible as Szpilka had a hard time landing anything in rounds 7 and 8. Because of this Szpilka started to use the looping left that Wilder took note, with 1 minute in round 9 he started to throw short rights to counter, getting the KO. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/li...mpionship-live
Washinton: Wilder was coming from his worst injurie and found a fast and big guy with a decent jab. Thus Wilder lack of activity charged the early rounds. In round 2 Washington started to use overhands to mix with the jab, no one of these landed but they made the jab more useful as it was a distraction. On round 3 Wilder took the overhand from him with left hooks and then started to take out his jab, by parrying, blocking and counter-jabbing, making Washington get passive from round 4. But the 1-2 wasn't landing because Washington timed it, so he broke the rhytim. Looking at the stats Wilder actually outjabbed Washington: https://www.boxingscene.com/deontay-...-stats--114013
Ortiz: Wilder kept his jab on Ortiz face to deprive him of a clean line of vision and landed it often enough to steal some rounds. He used his footwork to keep distance and to make Ortiz be the agressor, fighting out of his way. He kept feinting to remember Ortiz of his right hand. These three factors decreased Ortiz aggressiviness, but Ortiz started to time his left punches and landing them on Wilder's had. Than Wilder started to time his right to Ortiz left, making Ortiz throw less and starting to land his own. After being sucessful on round 5 he got careless and Ortiz used his chance to land a counter right hook, but Wilder showed his resilience in not being dropped through the 44 seconds he was hurt. After Wilder recovered on round 9, the right hooks didn't land anymore as Wilder blocked or ducked them. Wilder won 5 the 9 rounds and actually outjabbed Ortiz (keep in mind that Ortiz is a skilled southpaw, so the jab naturally loses efficiency): https://www.boxingscene.com/deontay-...-stats--125891
Common misconceptions:
Weak jab: He outjabbed most if not all his opponents, including the three above, and Lennox Lewis actually praised his "long, hard jab"
Weak defense: While he is very hittable to the body his head is hard to tag. He is no wizard but his defense is above average and definitely enough to support his offense
Small ring IQ: The worst misconception, as it is visible his adjustments won him these three fights, actually, all his fights since he got the belt

I'm not saying he isn't flawed or some supreme boxer, but his skills are definitely underrated

paragraphs bro. do you know them

[Cutthroat]

No its not, his technique is bad full stop. But thats part of what makes him so dangerous and difficult to deal with. Look at the last round of the Ortiz fight, Wilder leans back as Ortiz throws a 1,2 and Ortiz probably thinks Wilder isn't a position to counter but somehow despite being completely off balance he managed to generate amazing power into a right hook which stunned Ortiz. Wilder nearly fell over with only the ropes keeping him on his feet. Look at the video from 2:25 onwards.

There is no world champion in history that would throw a punch like that.

Gif[IMG]https://media.*****.com/media/1TSHRrKXu3dukC2knF/*****.gif[/IMG]


This is 100% correct. People are not recognizing Wilder's flexibility, speed, mobility, in combination with his size and power, it's unheard of.

Foreman, Bowe, Lewis, etc. BIG guys they keep trying to compare him to were stiffs, they were slow. Most of the time they won fights due to simply overwhelming guys with their size. Wilder's skill set has never been seen at HW.

In fact I'd say most modern day athletes in general are more flexible than they've ever been.

[daggum]

the scorecards prove he wasn't losing! nothing wrong with those cards!

[Stinger1]

Gif[IMG]https://media.*****.com/media/1TSHRrKXu3dukC2knF/*****.gif[/IMG]


This is 100% correct. People are not recognizing Wilder's flexibility, speed, mobility, in combination with his size and power, it's unheard of.

Foreman, Bowe, Lewis, etc. BIG guys they keep trying to compare him to were stiffs, they were slow. Most of the time they won fights due to simply overwhelming guys with their size. Wilder's skill set has never been seen at HW.

In fact I'd say most modern day athletes in general are more flexible than they've ever been.

Its not just athleticism, its timing as well. He is actually really skilled in terms of ability to punch someone accurately and powerfully. Its just that his technique is probably the worst of any world champion in history but he makes it work.

[Cutthroat]

Its not just athleticism, its timing as well. He is actually really skilled in terms of ability to punch someone accurately and powerfully. Its just that his technique is probably the worst of any world champion in history but he makes it work.

It's like Wilder said, if it isn't broken don't fix it, there are guys that do stuff right all the time and still lose. There are fundamentals but at the same time you can counter those fundamentals.

He said people have tried to teach him the proper way to use perfect technique but he said it just doesn't work into his style.

I think if he did fight how people want him to, it'd make him a very stiff fighter and his physical tools like his speed, flexibility, etc. wouldn't be anywhere as potent in that style.


When you fight Wilder you HAVE to adapt to a brand new style never seen before and on the fly, there is no prep for him.