Is Wilder his 'own worst enemy'?

[ThatDude44]

Is there a date for Wilder-Fury yet?

[Redd Foxx]

Didn't read the novel but I've seen this movie before. In case anyone hasn't been paying attention, Wilder's move with Fury has been praised by the boxing community. Making a false premise about him somehow sabotaging himself is laughable. Not only is Fury the easier fight, but it gives him serious weight when it comes time to negotiate with AJ again.

Did you guys forget the immediate reaction everyone had, that Fury couldn't have possibly agreed to this so soon? There's a reason for that. Nothing in boxing is risk free but Deontay came out of the AJ thing smelling like a rose while Joshua's stock has fallen considerably. He's fighting a major contender soon and no one gives a ***. That's brutal.

I don't know how Deontay does it but it manages to get though every situation that I think is going to topple him. I've little faith in the guy but I gotta admit, he's either damn lucky or he deserves a hell of a lot more credit.

[SeGoodland]

Didn't read the novel but I've seen this movie before. In case anyone hasn't been paying attention, Wilder's move with Fury has been praised by the boxing community. Making a false premise about him somehow sabotaging himself is laughable. Not only is Fury the easier fight, but it gives him serious weight when it comes time to negotiate with AJ again.

Did you guys forget the immediate reaction everyone had, that Fury couldn't have possibly agreed to this so soon? There's a reason for that. Nothing in boxing is risk free but Deontay came out of the AJ thing smelling like a rose while Joshua's stock has fallen considerably. He's fighting a major contender soon and no one gives a ***. That's brutal.

I don't know how Deontay does it but it manages to get though every situation that I think is going to topple him. I've little faith in the guy but I gotta admit, he's either damn lucky or he deserves a hell of a lot more credit.

Do you not agree that even if Joshua's stock has gone down, both Wilder and Fury will be gunning for him if they win, what is essentially, an Joshua eliminator???

I agree that a Wilder win will mean a considerable increase in his negotiating position but he could find himself scrambling for options if Fury wins. My point was, Wilder may have jumped too quickly at the opportunity to fight Fury and, imo, Fury is now playing Wilder out of that huge opportunity.

I really can see Fury beating Wilder, i see some bookies stateside have Wilder favourite but, I'm not convinced he has enough to take Fury out. If he does, massive credit to him. If he doesn't, I think we'll see a huge shift in his popularity.

With all that said, fair enough, he is making the fight happen, where Joshua and his camp didn't.

[SeGoodland]

Is there a date for Wilder-Fury yet?

Not that I have seen. Frank Warren said, last Saturday, that details would come out this week.

Not sure what Finkel has said across the pond.

[Redd Foxx]

Do you not agree that even if Joshua's stock has gone down, both Wilder and Fury will be gunning for him if they win, what is essentially, an Joshua eliminator???

I agree that a Wilder win will mean a considerable increase in his negotiating position but he could find himself scrambling for options if Fury wins. My point was, Wilder may have jumped too quickly at the opportunity to fight Fury and, imo, Fury is now playing Wilder out of that huge opportunity.

I really can see Fury beating Wilder, i see some bookies stateside have Wilder favourite but, I'm not convinced he has enough to take Fury out. If he does, massive credit to him. If he doesn't, I think we'll see a huge shift in his popularity.

With all that said, fair enough, he is making the fight happen, where Joshua and his camp didn't.

Absolutely not. Wilder took years before facing decent competition and still carries baggage from that. You're either HW champ of the world or you're not. You can't fake it for long or the fans turn on you. Look what happened to AJ. He looked like he was avoiding this one fight and man that bit him in the ass.

Wilder is really a mess in terms of his boxing and power power has gotten him out of some real jams. He could lose to anyone at any time, but he can't screw around anymore. He's at that level that he must take the risks. Avoiding them will kill his career even worse than taking an L. Losing in a multi million dollar fight is often more profitable than fighting for small checks and losing any fan backing.

[SeGoodland]

Absolutely not. Wilder took years before facing decent competition and still carries baggage from that. You're either HW champ of the world or you're not. You can't fake it for long or the fans turn on you. Look what happened to AJ. He looked like he was avoiding this one fight and man that bit him in the ass.

Wilder is really a mess in terms of his boxing and power power has gotten him out of some real jams. He could lose to anyone at any time, but he can't screw around anymore. He's at that level that he must take the risks. Avoiding them will kill his career even worse than taking an L. Losing in a multi million dollar fight is often more profitable than fighting for small checks and losing any fan backing.

Yeah, I agree with what you are saying about Wilder. I want to see the triangle of fights between these three.

I think that AJ still has the appeal of the mass market in the UK and Fury/Wilder could fly under the radar in the UK if its shown on BT instead of Sky, so I would agree so far to that Joshua has lost credibility with regular/hardcore fans but if I asked my group of mates who I would watch boxing with, they probably wouldn't know or care about what Fury/Wilder or AJ has said or done in the build up, they just want to watch AJ fight because, to them, he is synonymous with 'big fights' because of his image.

I think regular/hardcore fans make up such a small percentage of the people who want to watch boxing in the UK, that whoever fights AJ, they will be typecast as a big fighter.

What a wonderful position to be in. Or is it? I wonder, is that the same for Wilder?

[BillyBoxing]

His worst enemy is Ortiz by now, followed by Washington, wich tells a lot about the oppo he's been fighting.

Yet the Wilderettes bash GGG who has fought Jacobs, Canelo...

[BillyBoxing]

No, Wilder has been screwed by Hearn many times.

He could lose BIG if he loses to Tyson but a champion doesn't pick his opponents based on fear to lose.

If he must be afraid of an out of shape, depressive former champion like Tyson then he needs to retire PERIOD

Wilder playing smart here and real here

[Marchegiano]

Wanted to start with an apology to any Americans who I have offended with comments I've made, took it too far and it became a US v UK thing rather than about boxing. Sorry about that.

I am a big AJ fan, have been since he was in the Olympics. Its not new to me to have some trollers or haters.

Trying to take a step back and look at this Wilder situation more objectively.

Lets just get a few things out of the way...

1. Yes, it would appear that AJ swerved the fight even though he accepted the $50m+ to fight Wilder, despite him saying he would fight for $50m. (albeit, confirmed that the fight would be on BT rather than Sky - Americans may not understand why that is an issue, however, it is).
2. AJ has a better relative resume than Wilder. 21 fights against better opponents. There can be no question there.
3. The heavyweight division is not what is used to be but that is not the fault of AJ, Wilder etc. You can only fight who is in front of you and/or available/holds the title (looking at Charles Martin there).
4. Wilder had a signed contract by Hearn, who has power of attorney. It doesn't matter who signed it, if someone has power of attorney to confirm a fight via a contract...Wilder has a signed contract for a fight. Wilder doesn't want that flat fee deal (with US rematch (?)). Fair enough.

So.
There has been a lot of talk about how Joshua is fighting Povetkin because he didn't want the Wilder fight, blah blah blah, we've heard it all a thousand times already. I haven't seen anyone look at this from the different perspective...Wilder would clearly prefer to fight Povetkin instead of Joshua. It was highly publicised that Joshua would fight a mandatory if negotiations failed to produce a unification fight with Wilder. It would be very clever [of Wilder] to let Povetkin take on Joshua first and hope that Povetkin won, it would be an easier unification fight and even I would say Wilder KO's Povetkin inside 2/3 rounds. It would be an easy win, he'd make $15-$20 million dollars as it would sell well in the UK too (imo) and he'd be the unified, undisputed Heavyweight champ...he'd be the A side, no doubt. It makes complete sense that Wilder may have allowed Joshua to take an extra risk.

In steps Tyson Fury. Seemingly willing to take Wilder on after a lengthy time out of the ring and for the Gypsy King to say 'AJ is a ****house, AJ is a coward' blah blah blah, again, we've heard it all a thousand times.

But why would Wilder accept a fight (possibly two fight?) deal with Fury just for the lineal title? Yes, its a good title to have but there have been some less deserving fighters in the past who have held that, so it doesn't really have as big an impact as holding all four World HW Titles (I'm sure some will disagree). Wilder can build a legacy off of the back of being the first man to hold all four titles.

Wilder has introduced a career damaging risk in agreeing a fight with Fury. Fury stands alone in his ability, in the Heavyweight division. No, he doesn't have the devastating knockout power than Wilder AND Joshua but he does have the ability to move like a middleweight and fight as a heavyweight. Hit and not be hit. Its a mouth watering prospect to see Wilder fight Fury. I believe that Fury can deliver Wilder's first loss which would result in Wilder putting himself out of contention of the first four title unification, with Joshua. Fury, however, if he wins will have pulled the rug out from under Wilders feet whilst giving Joshua (and Hearn) the middle finger. Pretty genius move from Fury (and Warren).

Why wouldn't Wilder accept further negotiations with Hearn whilst Joshua is in camp for Povetkin? This is seemingly the best time for Wilder to be in negotiations for a fight in April. Joshua has publicly said that he is going to walk through Povetkin, which in my opinion is lacking in respect for the Russian...Wilder could keep one of Joshua's eyes fixed on him rather on the opponent. A much smarter move than allowing risk to himself, in my eyes. Povetkin can knockout much bigger (in terms of size) fighters...Joshua should be respecting the Russian's ability. Wilder has missed a trick there (imo).

Why wouldn't Wilder agree to fight Breazeale despite all of the hate between them? I would watch Wilder v Breazeale because, for UK fans, if Wilder can walk through Breazeale in the same way that Joshua did, it increases his profile with UK fans as well as settling a beef. Yes, Fury is a bigger fight and I will 100% watch it but Breazeale serves a purpose and would be the less risker option. Then its all roads to Wembley and the biggest heavyweight unification fight in recent years.

In the UK, we have a saying; 'Don't cut your nose off to spite your face'. Fury wins, Wilder can only blame himself.

Because Wilder's not a *****.

[SeGoodland]

Because Wilder's not a *****.

How is that a response? At least try.