What's the story behind this?
Wilder barely knows how to box, how is he going to learn MMA?
A 6'7 LHW?
What's the story behind this?
He barely knows how to box? An Olympic bronze medalist who has a very legitimate chance to be unified HW champion "barely knows how to box"? Hot take, man.
You mention everything but his actual boxing skill. He has amateurish footwork, poor balance, and his already generally lacking technique breaks down frequently in the middle of fights. His resume is also very, weak for someone with his number of fights and status (aside from the win against Ortiz, which is a good win against an old but still very dangerous guy). I'm far from a boxing expert, but even I can see he's technically deficient.
What he does have is a fast and unpredictable overhand right with real power. Still, if he hasn't learnt how to box with proper technique after 10 years, can't exactly expect him to pick up MMA as well.
He is definitely lacking technically. In certain aspects I'd argue that people overplay his flaws as he has a half decent jab when he cares to use it, and he actually has half decent counter punching instincts. Still, he definitely is deficient in many respects, but not to the extent that many say (as if he's on the level of shitty HWs of MMA fighters).
He does make up for this with freakish power (at 214 pounds he punches better than any fighter in MMA history), great speed for a HW, very good stamina for a HW, and, as we saw last week, very impressive toughness for a HW. The idea that a man who is able to become elite in the HW division of boxing couldn't possibly find success in the exceptionally weak LHW or HW divisions of MMA when he has freak power, great speed, decent stamina, and very good toughness is laughable. He's drastically more talented than the vast majority of fighters who ever choose to enter MMA. Is he ever going to try MMA? No, unless he's ancient and looking for a payday, it's exceptionally unlikely, but had he focused on it, he'd be an incredibly interesting prospect. MMA is a sport where people think McGregor has mythical power. Wilder has the power that McGregor fans wank themselves to believing McGregor possesses it.
I definitely agree he could "find success" at LHW and HW, if that's the bar we're setting. As the success of Ngannou proves, you can get by just by hitting like a truck, and Wilder is much faster and slicker than Francis. I could definitely see him tagging and flattening some good stylistic matchups. However, I assumed the implication is that we'd see him as a title challenger, since obviously Deontay wouldn't cross over to fight some random guy. In that context, I think his chances are poor, and there are many non-champion fighters in both divisions who would give him fits stylistically.
What Ngannou has that Francis doesn't is a massive size and strength advantage over his field of opponents which allowed him to resist takedowns when he was fresh. Deontay is extremely wiry and actually not heavy even for a LHW, with chicken legs and a wide stance, and I believe he would struggle immensely with someone able and determined to take him down, let alone elite wrestlers. Imagine what someone like Blaydes would do to him at HW, or how guys like Latifi or DC would throw him around at LHW.
What the fuck is this shit ...
Wilder crossing over now is the discussion, not some hypothetical scenario where he somehow decides to pick up MMA at age 25. That's not an issue I addressed, just that he's not going to be able to learn another sport now, especially since he's not even technically sound at the sport he's already competing in. For the record, I think in that hypothetical scenario it would be a much better idea to fight at HW and gain mass as opposed to fight at LHW at his current size. Being very lean and long works in boxing, in MMA he is going to want to be larger and stronger.If we're talking about Wilder crossing over now, then yeah, he'd probably be in trouble. However, he's a guy who could easily make LHW and has a better punch than anyone in MMA history while also being drastically faster and having a lot more boxing craft than the current HW champion who has thrived based largely on his own boxing craft. That's quite a package of skills for a younger man to put his full time into MMA with.
As it stands, he's likely to make a bigger purse in a fight against Joshua than any MMA fighter has ever made (that's without mentioning that he already makes considerably more than any MMA HW or any MMA fighter other than McGregor and GSP). He has a raw skillset that could find plenty of success in MMA if it was properly tailored for the sport. We also shouldn't assume a wiry guy is weak (as he has never shown that to be the case on the inside in boxing where we saw the drastically lighter Mayweather largely bully McGregor) as maybe the best overall MMA wrestler of all time is a guy with a very similar build to Wilder.
Sadly, it attracts cunts.
Movie's called Blue Streak. That was back in the days before Chappelle was Chappelle and Martin Lawrence the "star" lol. Great movie, one of my favorites growing up. Highly recommended if you want to laugh. Cult classic.never seen this clip before, lmao!