Is Wilder EVER going to step up?

Deontay Wilder is now 27-0 (27). His last opponent at the weekend was one formidable and brutal man who goes by the name of Matthew Greer. Nope, me neither.

Greer had 8 defeats from 23 fights before Wilder KO'd him in 2. The "Bronze Bomber" is clearly going to learn NOTHING from fighting complete nobodies who can't take a punch. Is he THAT afraid of losing his "0"? Is he waiting for both K brothers to retire? Is his matchmaking team wrapping him in so much cotton wool he can't move between fights?

This man needs a test so we can see how good he MIGHT be. Someone with a decent chin and some boxing savvy to get out of the way or hold when hurt. I would like to see Wilder face someone like McCall. Or what about Monte Barrett? I don't care who as long as they're someone we've heard of. STEP UP Man, or go away.

Why they couldn't just photocopy Michael Grant and save us the trouble of having to hear about Wilder, I'll never know. Along with Seth Mitchell I've yet to be as fed up of hearing about two more uninspiring over-hyped fighters in my life.

Have no interest in him until he actually fights a live opponent! Plus he looked awful against his 26th opponent(whos name unsurprisingly enough escapes me).

DAVE667 wrote:Why they couldn't just photocopy Michael Grant and save us the trouble of having to hear about Wilder, I'll never know. Along with Seth Mitchell I've yet to be as fed up of hearing about two more uninspiring over-hyped fighters in my life.

Yeah, it is possible that he is...

We talked about this on tonight's podcast, amazing he is still taking 8 round fights.

At his stage of his career he should be fighting the likes of Banks, Areola, Adamek. Not these unknown punch bags.

wasnt this just a 'stay busy' fight? still, with a record of 27 fights its impressive to see the likes of fury and price both fight world top 10s before 20 fights.

He shouldn't be having stay busy fights he should be having big PPV/HBO fights.

Really is a sad state when someone so unproven can be considered a top heavyweight be certain fans. I'd back guys like McDermott and Sexton to beat a fair few of the guys on his record.

I do get the impression there are a good few heavyweights treading water at the minute in the belief that one or more of the brothers will retire within the next year or so and so belts will be a little easier to pick up. Just think Wilder is the extreme of this argument, but who can blame him money talks and as an American heavyweight you have to think HBO and the various powers that be will find a way to give him a not too taxing route to one of those belts.

Rowley wrote:I do get the impression there are a good few heavyweights treading water at the minute in the belief that one or more of the brothers will retire within the next year or so and so belts will be a little easier to pick up. Just think Wilder is the extreme of this argument, but who can blame him money talks and as an American heavyweight you have to think HBO and the various powers that be will find a way to give him a not too taxing route to one of those belts.

The problem with that is at this rate he'll still need those testing the water fights against the gate keepers and fringe levels guys long after Vitali has retired and by then someone else will have the vacant belt and start defending it against trash Povetkin style.

"Step up or go away"

But it's okay for others to fight Harrison and Skelton???

Let him take his time too..

Not defending him, but his last opponent recently fought Boytsov and took him 6 rounds...

The sad thing is truss that if he was to fight harrison or skelton that would represent a huge step up in quality of opponent!

lfc91 wrote:The sad thing is truss that if he was to fight harrison or skelton that would represent a huge step up in quality of opponent!

"A huge step up"..

Praise indeed for Audley and a 63 year old Skelton..

Rowley wrote:I do get the impression there are a good few heavyweights treading water at the minute in the belief that one or more of the brothers will retire within the next year or so and so belts will be a little easier to pick up. Just think Wilder is the extreme of this argument, but who can blame him money talks and as an American heavyweight you have to think HBO and the various powers that be will find a way to give him a not too taxing route to one of those belts.

Wilder is fighting guys most aspiring heavyweights would fight on their debuts. This isn't treading water. Its either his handlers do not think much of him and are plotting a Feelgood rip off job or he is still learning. Either way, a la Mitchell, the minute he fights someone with the temerity to hit back, he will fold.

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:"A huge step up"..

Praise indeed for Audley and a 63 year old Skelton..

Or a perspective leveling comment showing the level of opposition that Wilder is fighting.

Wilder is 27-0. Fury and Price are 7-12 fights behind him yet they're fighting better people and us boxing fans have an idea of who they are (Johnson may not have been top drawer but he has fought Vitali for a bona fide World title - unlike Audley so don't include him here...) & Price is about to see what Thompson brings to the table (or has left). If they're still fighting nobodies after 27 fights then critcism is fair. Otherwise, it's not really relevent here.

Wilder is keeping active, sure, but just by blowing over nobodies. He is indeed a Michael Grant Mark 2.

I'll be honest ...and say I'd prefer to see someone fight nobodies before a title shot than winning a WBO title and fighting nobodies after..

I agree Truss, but at least Wlad has the WBO title so is a worthwhile champ to face.

Give him somebody tough at least...

Has he got some kind of good tv deal thats paying him handsomely for beating up nobodies? Or is he packing out venues? You would think even from a financial perspective he would want a few fights that could pay decent money. Maybe he is just getting good money for his minimal efforts.

While i do think people tend to want to rush fighters too much (especially when they want them to lose) i think he is taking his time after 27 fights, by 20 you want to be at least knocking on the door for a world title shot given you have not had too many set backs of some kind..

That being said people forget that just because we are not overly familiar with some fighters over seas it does not mean they are not tricky customers like some of the fighters Price and Fury have fought.. More so Price in comparison as Fury has stepped up a little.. But Price is fighting who he should at his stage..

But yeah 27 fights suggests he should be at least calling out the likes of Price, Chisora,Fury... And other fighters who can work as a step to a world title shot..

If he has a ranking high with the WBC he isn't going to step up anytime soon. All the WBC top 10 are counting down the days until Vitali retires.

But yeah 27 fights suggests he should be at least calling out the likes of Price, Chisora,Fury
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Even I'm not so biased to think the Brits are so good, the rest of the world need to be calling them out.

Wilder will get a shot at the title and make Michael Grant's losing tilt against Lennox look like one of the most heroic efforts in boxing history.

Mark my words.....

Wilder WILL come good!!

Just for a quick and somewhat amusing comparison, as Wilder no doubt wants to become a heavyweight champ & emulate his heroes let's have a look at 3 of the heavy champs from the last 15 years and their 27th Pro Fight & previous achievements:

Evander Holyfield: His 27th fight was Bert Cooper. He was defending his unified Heavyweight belts (the WBC didn't sanction this fight) and the 26 previous bouts included names such as Foreman, Douglas, Stewart, Dokes, Thomas, Tillis, DeLeon, Qawi (twice) and Tillman. He had also unified the cruiser belts. Some resume!

Lennox Lewis: Was having a WBC eliminator (his second, after already holding the title & defending it twice) against Lionel Butler since losing his belt to McCall. However, other previous names on his record included Bruno, Tucker, Ruddock, Mason, Billups, Biggs & Weaver. Not a bad line-up.

Vitali Klitschko: Having his second WBO title defence against Obed Sullivan. Whilst his resume is nothing like the other two, he had at least faced some recognisable names on his record such as Herbie Hide, Ribalta, Billups & muscle-bound multiple loser Louis Monaco.

Even Grant himself was facing David Izon, and had accounted for Gonzalez, Al "Ice" Cole, Butler, Puritty & "T-Rex" Sanders.

The only names I have heard of on Wilder's record are Owen "What the Heck (I'm shot anyway)" Beck and Damon Reed. Neither of whom exactly would have most heavies trembling. Get the man a Sprott, or an Arreola or a Dimitrenko. He might surprise us, but I am not holding my breath...

Wilder's record is a sham, and most right thinking people will ignore it.

However, the only things that aren't yet proven to be good, or bad, are his stamina and heart. If he has those, then he'll be world champion.

I also have a sneaky suspicion he can't take a clout and that's the reason he fights fatties.

Though he's still good enough to win a version of a world title in this poor era (after K2 retire)

He has a 100% KO record. Impressive yo.

Can't fight for Poopie though. Just a slugbum.

Lots of Americans are brought on this way, Calvin Brock, Dominick Guinn, Lou Savarese.

If history is anything to go by then he will fall by the wayside like the rest.

I hope not, it will make for some decent fights in the future... Price-Fury-Wilder-Helenius-Wawrzyk-Boystov.

davidemore wrote:He has a 100% KO record. Impressive yo.

Can't fight for Poopie though. Just a slugbum.

The fact he is a olimpic medelist means he is also technically good...

tunes666 wrote:

davidemore wrote:He has a 100% KO record. Impressive yo.

Can't fight for Poopie though. Just a slugbum.

The fact he is a olimpic medelist means he is also technically good...

So was Audley...hey, why not get Wilder and Audley together?

Wilder looks the part, has size, physic and there are skills there.

What they are doing to him, is getting him the training and sparring to develop him but the actual fights he's having are not in line.

There are a few American Heavyweights who have been steadily padding their record without having the talent like David 'Nino' Rodriguez (36-0, 34 KOs)

I suppose its a case of getting a ranking then a beatdown from the K brothers but in Wilders case they are trying to make him into a Heavyweight Champion, once the Klitschko's are drinking beers in Bavaria.

Wilder, is 27 and needs to start stepping up. He's done that abit with fights against Kelvin Davis but then is back to fights like his last one - where he genuinely looked bored and unimpressed with his tubby opponent (Greer).

He had the scare against Sconiers - a journeyman who once looked promising and the GBP pulled the reigns in but there will be more days like that if the fighter is allowed to get bored and complacent. The Heavyweight division is not a difficult place to match a fighter - who ever is doing the matchmaking is doing a bad job.

I'm not going to hold it against the fighter, as he has ability and America hasn't a Heavyweight Superstar. But, now we need to see the step-up.

They do seem to be playing the slow game with Wilder due to him not being an amateur for a particularly long time and just trying to get him as much experience training with top guys right now, but you're right he needs to be asked a couple of questions in a fight, not just given a fat bloke that looks about as in shape as my dad.

AlexHuckerby wrote:They do seem to be playing the slow game with Wilder due to him not being an amateur for a particularly long time and just trying to get him as much experience training with top guys right now, but you're right he needs to be asked a couple of questions in a fight, not just given a fat bloke that looks about as in shape as my dad.

The thing that worried me about THAT fat bloke was that it could be me and I could be getting a call.