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Because he was a high level wrestler who had some of the worst striking and punch resistance of any HW in MMA history. His entire game was about using his size, strength and wrestling to take people down and drop hammers on them from the top. None of his skillset translates into boxing.
He was a former division 1 level national wrestling champion with a record of 106-5. (bear in mind wrestling is widely regarded as being by far the best single discipline for MMA). He was also an absolute monster who was juiced to the gills. A 280lbish guy who could bench press 650lbs and was still agile enough to do backflips. He was able to briefly blag his way into the NFL just based on how much of an athletic freak he was. His combine stats are comparable to JJ Watts. His bench press reps are among the highest ever recorded at the combine. Acting like he was just some random dude who got off the couch one day and became UFC champ a year later is ridiculous. Not to mention he benefitted from good timing (the division was at a weak point when he won the belt) and being fast tracked due to his name.
What should it tell exactly?
Wilder has held the WBC title for 5 years having faced a grand total of 3 opponents who were considered top 10 when he faced them. One of those fights involved Wilder being gifted a draw to keep his belt. In that time he never fought Wlad, Joshua, Povetkin, Parker, Whyte etc and instead had title defences against the likes of Molina, Washington and Szpilka alongside repeatedly rematching people that nobody wanted him to have a rematch with.
Btw, the guy thats generally considered the best HW ever (Fedor) never fought in the UFC and went undefeated for 10 years. That included several fights against opponents who had a ridiculous size advantage over him.
The problem with this is you dont actually even need to be the best guy in your division to become a champion in boxing considering theres multiple world titles available. You dont necessarily need to even be top 5. Charles Martin got his hands on the IBF title. Lucas Browne (an ex-mma fighter who got KO'd in the first round by UFC great Daniel Cormier) briefly held the WBA title. Wilder became WBC champ by beating Stiverne, and we've already discussed the quality of his title reign since.
With all those belts floating around and all the politics allowing people to pick their path to titles, it wouldnt actually shock me if someone like Ngannou couldve got his hands on a major belt under the right circumstances. I'd give him a solid shot against someone like Martin or Stiverne, hes certainly a better athlete and bigger puncher than either. Btw, lets not forget that Jarrell Miller lost to an old washed up Cro Cop twice in KICKBOXING matches. The same Cro Cop that a few years earlier got dropped from the UFC having been KO'd three times in a row....
He was a former division 1 level national wrestling champion with a record of 106-5. (bear in mind wrestling is widely regarded as being by far the best single discipline for MMA). He was also an absolute monster who was juiced to the gills. A 280lbish guy who could bench press 650lbs and was still agile enough to do backflips. He was able to briefly blag his way into the NFL just based on how much of an athletic freak he was. His combine stats are comparable to JJ Watts. His bench press reps are among the highest ever recorded at the combine. Acting like he was just some random dude who got off the couch one day and became UFC champ a year later is ridiculous. Not to mention he benefitted from good timing (the division was at a weak point when he won the belt) and being fast tracked due to his name.
What should it tell exactly?
Wilder has held the WBC title for 5 years having faced a grand total of 3 opponents who were considered top 10 when he faced them. One of those fights involved Wilder being gifted a draw to keep his belt. In that time he never fought Wlad, Joshua, Povetkin, Parker, Whyte etc and instead had title defences against the likes of Molina, Washington and Szpilka alongside repeatedly rematching people that nobody wanted him to have a rematch with.
Btw, the guy thats generally considered the best HW ever (Fedor) never fought in the UFC and went undefeated for 10 years. That included several fights against opponents who had a ridiculous size advantage over him.
The problem with this is you dont actually even need to be the best guy in your division to become a champion in boxing considering theres multiple world titles available. You dont necessarily need to even be top 5. Charles Martin got his hands on the IBF title. Lucas Browne (an ex-mma fighter who got KO'd in the first round by UFC great Daniel Cormier) briefly held the WBA title. Wilder became WBC champ by beating Stiverne, and we've already discussed the quality of his title reign since.
With all those belts floating around and all the politics allowing people to pick their path to titles, it wouldnt actually shock me if someone like Ngannou couldve got his hands on a major belt under the right circumstances. I'd give him a solid shot against someone like Martin or Stiverne, hes certainly a better athlete and bigger puncher than either. Btw, lets not forget that Jarrell Miller lost to an old washed up Cro Cop twice in KICKBOXING matches. The same Cro Cop that a few years earlier got dropped from the UFC having been KO'd three times in a row....
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