Quote Originally Posted by Primo Carnera View Post
Quote Originally Posted by TitoFan View Post
C'mon. You know those aren't good comparisons.

Ryan is a one-hit wonder, who has always only appealed to the social media crowd. Jake is a YouTuber turned boxer.

You know that rightly or wrongly, Wilder at one time was being touted as the next great American heavyweight champion. There's always been a tremendous need for one of those, since the days of Mike Tyson ended. Meanwhile, Joshua was the British counterpart. Undefeated, personable, powerful... both seemed destined to meet.

That eventually both showed cracks in their armor is beside the point. The point is that at THAT time, it would've been a massive fight. I personally was disappointed when it didn't happen, and gave way to Wilder-Fury.

Again, hindsight is 20/20... and no sport suffers from this quite like boxing.
We didn’t suffer from hindsight in this instance. We benefited from it. It told us that Wilder was overrated and Joshua was levels above.
The Joshua loss wth Ruiz was avenged . The losses to Usyk shows that Usyk is a level above, and he’s put himself back into the mix for a World Title shot, he is still relevant.
Wilder Drew then lost and what has happened since. Hype Bubble and Burst spring to mind.
There are probably 5, 6, maybe 8 guys who could beat Wilder. So why does he or did he deserve anything?


I could counter by saying that Fury ruined Wilder. A good boxer, taller and heavier than Wilder, with a good gameplan. He knocked out Wilder twice. Joshua on the other hand, has never fought Fury. No one can say for certain how that would've gone. You see, it's all speculation. It's easy to talk about Wilder's "crash-and-burn" after it's already happened, after he and Joshua went their separate ways. THAT... is the classic definition of hindsight. You concentrate on how Wilder has spiraled down, and use that to argue that Wilder was never any good, and would've lost to Joshua. AJ meanwhile got KO'ed by Ruiz. That he came back to avenge the loss is honestly beside the point. The Ruiz loss proved he is beatable.

Does Wilder now "deserve" anything? No. Did he "deserve" anything at that time? Depends on your point of view. Again, it's a matter of speculation with the benefit of hindsight.

But none of this even addresses the point of the OP. The point of the OP is that at the time... Wilder vs AJ would've been a huge boost for boxing. None of what you've stated about their later careers negates any of that.