TBH I give Wilder credit for the likes of Duhaupas and Szpilka who have proven since their losses to actually be pretty decent guys in the 20-30 level. I just don't think Stiverne was ever a legite number 2, even if it may have looked like it at the time.
Based on Fury beating Klitschko, I think it's fair to say that Fury would have beat Stiverne back then. Hindsight is always 20/20.
But when you look at the top 10 back then, Stiverne was deserving of a #2 or #3 ranking. His first win over Arreola was a better win than most of those behind him.
You do bring up a good point that Wilder doesn't get enough credit for Duhaupas. But the reason the Stiverne fight is important is that Wilder didn't wait to go cherry pick a vacant title or target a champion perceived as weak. Stiverne was considered one of the best in the world. It shows Wilder's team was confident in his abilities. Just as it showed they were confident when they agreed to go to Russia instead of vacating and targeting another title (like Mike Tyson did).
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