What if Wilder

[Rockybigblower]

What if Wilder had taken his fight with Ortiz to wembley stadium or to Cardiff? Do you think it would have sold 80,000 and if so...would that have helped in the negotiations? Im talking about a stand alone card where Wilder headlined with no AJ or Whyte. Im a Wilder fan. I think something like that would have shown wether its AJ's popularity pulling the crowds or wether its heavyweight boxing in general...because i dont think AJ pulls any bigger than Wilder in the U.S.

[Ray*]

He would probably sell about 10k, it would be difficult for any non-Brit to headline here. Skysport are trying to sell his name to the masses here and they have been attaching his name to AJ for the last 12 months, that seems to have helped but the fact that he hasn’t fought anyone that the British public might attach to AJ doesn’t help him.

[Holler]

What if Wilder had taken his fight with Ortiz to wembley stadium or to Cardiff? Do you think it would have sold 80,000 and if so...would that have helped in the negotiations? Im talking about a stand alone card where Wilder headlined with no AJ or Whyte. Im a Wilder fan. I think something like that would have shown wether its AJ's popularity pulling the crowds or wether its heavyweight boxing in general...because i dont think AJ pulls any bigger than Wilder in the U.S.

Couple of problems with this idea.

Much as it proved an entertaining clash there's no British angle to engage the more casual fans. Who are they rooting for? A US champ who has spent the last few months calling AJ a duck and a cheat or an old Cuban who most of them have never heard of?
Remember Ortiz is far better known in the US where he's done the majority of his fighting.

The time they'd fight at wouldn't work for US audiences, so they'd lose income in their own domestic markets.

They'd only succeed with Matchroom or another UK promoters help Even then they don't sell 80k seats for this. Stadium crowds only happen here with a very big domestic grudge clash like Froch Groves or with AJ's star power. However inconvenient a truth for Wilder he's simply not in the same league when it comes to drawing a UK crowd.

[Rockybigblower]

Couple of problems with this idea.

Much as it proved an entertaining clash there's no British angle to engage the more casual fans. Who are they rooting for? A US champ who has spent the last few months calling AJ a duck and a cheat or an old Cuban who most of them have never heard of?
Remember Ortiz is far better known in the US where he's done the majority of his fighting.

The time they'd fight at wouldn't work for US audiences, so they'd lose income in their own domestic markets.

They'd only succeed with Matchroom or another UK promoters help Even then they don't sell 80k seats for this. Stadium crowds only happen here with a very big domestic grudge clash like Froch Groves or with AJ's star power. However inconvenient a truth for Wilder he's simply not in the same league when it comes to drawing a UK crowd.

I hear what you are saying....i was just wondering as an untested commodity...where a situation might stand. For example...soccer here in Australia is a secondary sport but even if someone like everton...let alone chelsea or man united comes over....sold out in hours.

[drunken fist]

Whyte can't even sell out in his own country. Doubt Wilder would do numbers close to AJ.

[True That]

Nope, he's not known enough in the UK.
He would struggle to fill seats out there.


If it was Wilder vs Ortiz and Whyte on the undercard as well as other UK fighters then that would do better in that situation.

[Holler]

I hear what you are saying....i was just wondering as an untested commodity...where a situation might stand. For example...soccer here in Australia is a secondary sport but even if someone like everton...let alone chelsea or man united comes over....sold out in hours.

I think Hearn had hoped to promote a Wilder Whyte fight in the UK whilst AJ fought in the US to boost each boxers profile but Wilder's camp weren't interested. With UK opposition that would've sold the O2, but I doubt a stadium.

The Premier League is a massive sporting brand worldwide so its not such a good comparison for a relatively minority sport like boxing. There's also a lot of expat/first/second gen from soccer mad countries who are starved of first rate soccer so when they get the chance to see it in the flesh they take it. I know as I used to be one

Even so the involvement of an Aussie soccer team can help and if those premier league teams were there every week they'd struggle to sell out such massive stadia. There's a lot of domestic UK boxing already underway here catering to the boxing crowd so US based fighters would have their competition already established.

[mvooom]

What if Wilder had taken his fight with Ortiz to wembley stadium or to Cardiff? Do you think it would have sold 80,000 and if so...would that have helped in the negotiations? Im talking about a stand alone card where Wilder headlined with no AJ or Whyte. Im a Wilder fan. I think something like that would have shown wether its AJ's popularity pulling the crowds or wether its heavyweight boxing in general...because i dont think AJ pulls any bigger than Wilder in the U.S.

Wilder vs Ortiz? No way. But a Whyte fight will do good numbers if Wilder can build on the whole AJ momentum. Scream like Shannon Briggs did and make a big fuss about how AJ is a scared cat, he would destroy Whyte better than AJ did, advertise his Ortiz KO.... British sport fans are into entertainment and will turn up for that fight. 80,000 fans? No but there will be alot of them wanting to see who this loud mouth is.

[Metho_4u]

I think Joshua will get cracked and knocked out tbh. Joshua's skill is highly overrated and wilder, while very crude in style, can flat out punch, and is deceptively fast.

[M Bison]

That's like relying on a Kazakh fighter filling a stadium with just Mexican boxing fans lol.