Why didn’t Wilder fight any top heavyweight until his 40th fight?

[Cutthroat]

I’m just looking at those he fought and it’s nuts. He has about 8-10 cruiserweights on his record and a lot of tomato cans with losing record.

A guy with a record of 17-21 also scored a KD against him, lol. This guy really got a pass. If he were a Brit, he would’ve been pelted with tomatoes years ago and be on the same level as Anthony Yarde. Even Fury never got any love until he travelled to Germany and shocked the world when no one gave him a chance.

Wilder was a cruiserweight lmao, he fought at 200lbs in the amateurs & turned pro at HW in a new divison. His amateur career lasted just 1.5 years total.

And Stiverne+Ortiz were both top 5 in the division.

[CoachMac34]

Everyone knows Wilder got a late start in boxing, like 19 or 20. He only had about 30 amateur fights, so his team brought him along slowly because the guy has been basically learning on the job. Meanwhile Joshua, because of the Olympics and a million dollar smile, was fast-tracked to title shots and stardom to cash in on his massive popularity. Presently, Wilder is still progressing and Joshua's picking up the pieces after getting embarrassed by the Pillsbury doughboy. Eddie Hearn is probably wishing Team Joshua had taken a couple more soft touches to work on his defense deficiencies. Their teams just took different paths to the top of the HW division.

[DaNeutral.]

Its a valid question. Hes fighting at the top level now and is getting the job done so why wait so long? Fighting at a higher level earlier in his career would of done his profile a world of good. I think that long list of nobodies is the root cause of why as exciting as he is he is not a bigger star now. It was a very slow climb to the top nobody can deny it.

Personally i just think him and Finkel were waiting for the Klitchko brothers to bugger off before they made their move on the big stage.

[BangEM]

Wilder was a cruiserweight lmao, he fought at 200lbs in the amateurs & turned pro at HW in a new divison. His amateur career lasted just 1.5 years total.

And Stiverne+Ortiz were both
top 5 in the division.

Stop it. His amateur career lasted over 3 years. No one can have over 35 amateur fights in 1.5yrs.

Ortiz was his 40th fight. Stiverne is a bum. Charles Martin is a better boxer than Stiverne.

[BangEM]

Wilder doesn’t deserve to be in the top 5. Even his 2 bouts against decent boxers were controversial and if not for the ref and judges, he would’ve lost both, lol.

Talk about the most protected, flawed and overrated heavyweight boxer in history.

[BangEM]

Everyone knows Wilder got a late start in boxing, like 19 or 20. He only had about 30 amateur fights, so his team brought him along slowly because the guy has been basically learning on the job. Meanwhile Joshua, because of the Olympics and a million dollar smile, was fast-tracked to title shots and stardom to cash in on his massive popularity. Presently, Wilder is still progressing and Joshua's picking up the pieces after getting embarrassed by the Pillsbury doughboy. Eddie Hearn is probably wishing Team Joshua had taken a couple more soft touches to work on his defense deficiencies. Their teams just took different paths to the top of the HW division.

Josh also started boxing late. He started at 18 and had just about 6-7 more amateur fights than Wilder, yet he has fought most of the top heavyweights in 23 pro fights. Wilder waited till his 40th fight.

[BangEM]

Its a valid question. Hes fighting at the top level now and is getting the job done so why wait so long? Fighting at a higher level earlier in his career would of done his profile a world of good. I think that long list of nobodies is the root cause of why as exciting as he is he is not a bigger star now. It was a very slow climb to the top nobody can deny it.

Personally i just think him and Finkel were waiting for the Klitchko brothers to bugger off before they made their move on the big stage.

But why is he calling another boxing “protected” when he’s the most protected heavyweight boxer in history?

[champion4ever]

It's because he didn't come away with the Olympic Gold like AJ. Had he won the Gold medal at the Olympics, he would have gotten the same push and sponsors as Anthony Joshua did.

He could've been a heavyweight title holder in half the time it took him to win his first one in 2015. It took Anthony Joshua just 2 and a half years to win his first world title in only his 16th professional bout.

On the other hand, it took Wilder double that time because he was an unknown from a small town in Alabama. So hardly any corporate sponsors, television networks or promoters even noticed him.

Also, he wasn't making any big money at the time either as compared to Joshua. The man was making close to peanuts or next to nothing when he fought because he couldn't get any of the big names to fight him.

For example, Joshua was able to secure both the IBF, WBO and the Wladimir Klitschko fights because he had the money to do so. While on the other Deontay Wilder did not.

[BangEM]

It's because he didn't come away with the Olympic Gold like AJ. Had he won the Gold medal at the Olympics, he would have gotten the same push and sponsors as Anthony Joshua did.

He could've been a heavyweight title holder in half the time it took him to win his first one in 2015. It took Anthony Joshua just 2 and a half years to win his first world title in only his 16th professional bout.

On the other hand, it took Wilder double that time because he was an unknown from a small town in Alabama. So hardly any corporate sponsors, television networks or promoters even noticed him.

Also, he wasn't making any big money at the time either as compared to Joshua. The man was making close to peanuts or next to nothing when he fought because he couldn't get any of the big names to fight him.

For example, Joshua was able to secure both the IBF, WBO and the Wladimir Klitschko fights because he had the money to do so. While on the other Deontay Wilder did not.

Breazeale also started boxing late and went to the Olympics without winning any medal, yet he started taking decent fights at about 26 pro bouts in. So no excuses.

Wilder has just been protected throughout his career, hence I don’t rate him. I’ll have to see him beat a top contender convincingly (not cherrypicked old Ortiz) for me to rate him. If he can beat Parker and White, then I might rate him a bit. There’s a reason why they are also protecting him from Dillian Whyte. If Whyte wins against Rivas, he would’ve to vacate or fight Whyte.

[saintpat]

Breazeale also started boxing late and went to the Olympics without winning any medal, yet he started taking decent fights at about 26 pro bouts in. So no excuses.

Wilder has just been protected throughout his career, hence I don’t rate him. I’ll have to see him beat a top contender convincingly (not cherrypicked old Ortiz) for me to rate him. If he can beat Parker and White, then I might rate him a bit. There’s a reason why they are also protecting him from Dillian Whyte. If Whyte wins against Rivas, he would’ve to vacate or fight Whyte.

Ray Robinson didn’t win a title until his 75th fight. Do you rate him?

This isn’t a race where everyone starts even and you have checkpoints by which you have to do this or that.

If a guy with 100 fights is better than a guy with 20 fights, but it took the 100-fight guy that long to get to the top, he’s still at the top.

If an Olympic sprinter sets the world record when he’s 18 and some 26-year-old wins the gold medal, do you say the 18-year-old deserves it because he was faster at an earlier stage of his development? Of course not.

Another way to look at it is it took Joshua just 23 fights to get sparked out. Wilder is at 40-plus without getting stopped.