As has been stated accurately location and venue has so much to do with it. But one word that keeps bouncing around my head is exposure. To the literal of tv dates and early consistent push and promotion, but also to the scrutiny and reveals that can come with exposure itself and the poor level of Wilders road kill that often left the announcers..if their were any..stating something about 'level of competition and work in process' etc. Add in obvious flaws early and the erratic over caffeinated caveman style and fans saw the holes and were not so easy to buy in or call Wilder the goods. Grab any previous American heavy from last the division peaked here..Holyfield to Bowe to Morrison to others like even Grant or a Larry Donald. All came up on bigger well known National platforms that were known weekly 'dates' for fight fans. It was regular and a given. From USA Tuesday night fights to ESPN to all the big 3 weekend boxing shows on ABC NBC or CBS. They came up gaining fans before they reached a major premier network. Wilder truth be told did not main event on hbo or Showtime until 7+ yrs in and prior to that he was buried on undercards. And that was also his last time in Vegas. His commercial tv spots were absolutely terrible and spotty at best being shown on Telefutura or a low advertised Fox1, again on undercards because the comp was iffy and it was known how raw he was. Networks want to feature competitive action in top positions..not predicatble crude muggings. I mean the man and his keepers just didn't seem to 'package' what was a big brash Olympic medalists and his pro debut took place literally in a bingo club with zero local or tv coverage. Even Shannon Briggs got National airtime and had the mentoring of Teddy Atlas as well as a writer-promoter yelling his praises in front of every camera and filling the New York Times with clip after clip on him. In fairness Briggs got his hbo date early and promptly imploded but he got to the dance. You hone and seed the base and grow outward. City to State to Country. Wilder has in a way actually done it backwards. What he sees as a problem or hassle is there to greatly benefit him and by that I mean AJ himself. Now that in itself has over shadowed the big picture at heavyweight but Wilder should have latched onto that shine and made it his own, attended the live fight where he was invited to be on the mic and aka in the face of AJ. Not talking about riding his coattails but you stake your claim. Likewise expand your base and travel. Instead he sort of settled on twitter wars, beating up mascots while pretending to understand Spanish and settled on maybe 4,5 recent spots in Alabama until Ortiz in Barclays.

And yelling incoherently does not count as great self promotion . Wilder has come a long way and I fully want him to refine and continue to improve but he doesn't come off like the brightest bulb on the string of lights honestly. But he now has the opportunity to combine brutal power, pop and top names better comp in major events that have been absent for so long. His turn to act like he's been in the room before.