Arum shreds the Alabama HWT cheese champ

[Kalan]

The problem for Wilder is he's been in really stinky fights with real stinky opponents.. NOBODY gets excited about any of his fights.. The public believes he's being matched with pushovers.. That's what happens when you go for the 100% certain win.. You stay undefeated but nobody is interested.. I didn't think there was any way that De La Hoya, Alvarez, or Pacquiao were going to beat Floyd.. But it's public perception.. If a large portion of the public thinks those guys are going to beat you??? Then there's the sense that it's a real fight.

If I were matching Wilder I would go big for a Parker fight... It's a 75% likely win for him but it would be a very tough win... Offer Parker a big money unification deal in Dallas Stadium or another big arena... Offer 10 million... Who knew the Dempsey-Tunney fights would blow every other fight ever fought before away -- in both attendance and money??? Tunney wasn't a big puncher, but he had the reputation for being an outstanding boxer who you couldn't hit. Everybody wants to see a fight where there's a lot of drama.. A fight where nobody can say for certain what's going to happen and you know it's going to a different kind of challenger and a different kind of fight. Wilder-Parker is that kind of fight.

If he can't get Parker I would go Breazeale.. Pulev.. or Takam.. Winnable fights, but tougher than the ones you've had and would draw.. Some easier fights, but still good fights, are Mariusz Wach, Derrick Chisora, and Jarrell Miller... What the public doesn't want to see are Chris Arreola, Eric Molina, and Malik Scott.

[gp.]

I watch Wilders fights hoping someone is going to beat him. Washington was winning rounds until the inevitable happened.
I'm sure I am not alone in this.
Also, don't underestimate Parker's fans. He has 3 groups of support
1, New Zealanders
2, Samoans
3, Jehovah Witness
He is as big, if not bigger than AJ is in the UK in NZ and Samoa.
He fought in Samoa and it was like Ali going through small villages in the lead up to Rumble in the Jungle

There are 4.5 million people in New Zealand and 200,000 in Samoa. 65 million in the UK. If 8% of the UK population wanted to watch Joshua then that's more than the total population of both already.

[KiwiRider]

I watch Wilders fights hoping someone is going to beat him. Washington was winning rounds until the inevitable happened.
I'm sure I am not alone in this.
Also, don't underestimate Parker's fans. He has 3 groups of support
1, New Zealanders
2, Samoans
3, Jehovah Witness
He is as big, if not bigger than AJ is in the UK in NZ and Samoa.
He fought in Samoa and it was like Ali going through small villages in the lead up to Rumble in the Jungle

There are 4.5 million people in New Zealand and 200,000 in Samoa. 65 million in the UK. If 8% of the UK population wanted to watch Joshua then that's more than the total population of both already.

The only comparison I was making was to Wilder and his small venue Alabama title "defences" not the UK or anywhere else for that matter.

[gp.]

I watch Wilders fights hoping someone is going to beat him. Washington was winning rounds until the inevitable happened.
I'm sure I am not alone in this.
Also, don't underestimate Parker's fans. He has 3 groups of support
1, New Zealanders
2, Samoans
3, Jehovah Witness
He is as big, if not bigger than AJ is in the UK in NZ and Samoa.
He fought in Samoa and it was like Ali going through small villages in the lead up to Rumble in the Jungle

There are 4.5 million people in New Zealand and 200,000 in Samoa. 65 million in the UK. If 8% of the UK population wanted to watch Joshua then that's more than the total population of both already.

The only comparison I was making was to Wilder and his small venue Alabama title "defences" not the UK or anywhere else for that matter.

When you said "He is as big, if not bigger than AJ is in the UK in NZ and Samoa" it certainly looked like you were making a comparison to the UK.

[KiwiRider]

In popularity yeah.
He is one of our highest profile sportspeople including the All Blacks.
Of course the numbers are way different.

[gp.]

In popularity yeah.
He is one of our highest profile sportspeople including the All Blacks.
Of course the numbers are way different.

Which is surely the whole point of this thread. It doesn't matter how big Parker is in New Zealand; that won't bring enough money to the table.

In fact when you said "Don't underestimate Parker's fans" and went on to list New Zealanders and Samoans as his major support groups, how was that not about numbers?

[candyslim]

@Kalan and everyone: Do you think a Wilder v Parker unification in Dallas or somewhere else in the States, makes serious money?

Would Wilder and Parker be sufficiently well paid to make facing the other worthwhile, especially when the loser can probably wave goodbye to his most potentially rewarding fight with Joshua in London?

You know, I accept I might be talking absolute bollocks, but I have this crazy idea that with the right kind of marketing, the best place to host a Wilder v Parker unification might actually be London, maybe at the O2. Again Eddie would really have to work his magic and maybe recruit AJ to help with the publicity, but it could even do decent PPV. Boxing's big in the UK and the fans, hardcore and casual, could respond to the whole unification ethos and the angle that this is the fight to determine the real opponent and rival for Joshua's right to call himself the unified champion.

I'd certainly be among the first in the queue for a ticket and I accept that might skew my thinking and make me less than objective about this, so feel free to tell me that it's a preposterous idea ... if you think it is.

[candyslim]

C'mon guys I want to know what you think. I've stuck my balls out on this. Kick 'em or tickle 'em but don't leave 'em hanging

[RScarf1]

C'mon guys I want to know what you think. I've stuck my balls out on this. Kick 'em or tickle 'em but don't leave 'em hanging

I don't believe that a Wilder vs. Parker unification would make big money in the United States. I think they need to both defend against better contenders right now. I think Parker vs. Lucas Browne would do well financially (maybe on PPV) because Browne is from Australia and Parker is from New Zealand. Wilder could fight someone like Charles Martin in the United States and see how it does. They are the top two in the United States, so let's see what happens. Then maybe unification can be done. Right now, I do not see it happening because Wilder and Parker do not bring enough to the table at this time. They are basically contenders with belts.

[montrealsuper]

There is ZERO demand in the US to see Wilder. Haymons choreography of WIlder's career has not succeeded. All the easy wins on TV have NOT turned Wilder into a star just like all the PBC TV dates have not produced any transcending giant stars. So therefore Haymon must continue to protect Wilder with more fraud fights and hope some of the mud will stick to the wall. Parker vs Wilder in the US would be a non event. Nobody would care except a few yokels. Wilder vs Joshua doesn't make any sense for Haymon now because it would be the End of the fraud show. Haymon has ZERO confidence to throw Wilder into a ring with Joshua Klitschko or even Povetkin.

[bigman1968]

I watch Wilders fights hoping someone is going to beat him. Washington was winning rounds until the inevitable happened.
I'm sure I am not alone in this.
Also, don't underestimate Parker's fans. He has 3 groups of support
1, New Zealanders
2, Samoans
3, Jehovah Witness
He is as big, if not bigger than AJ is in the UK in NZ and Samoa.
He fought in Samoa and it was like Ali going through small villages in the lead up to Rumble in the Jungle

NZ together with all the Samoans are twice less than London alone in terms of population, and money accordingly-)))

[candyslim]

And the London suggestion. Am I being ridiculous?

[Enlightened-One]

In the context of this thread title, Bob Arum's criticism of Deontay Wilder is primarily motivated by the fact that 'The Bronze Bomber' is not promoted by Top Rank and is considered a rival to his own fighters (i.e. Joseph Parker and Andy Ruiz Jr.).

If Deontay decided to swap allegiances, by joining Top Rank's stable of fighters, then Bob Arum would almost certainly boldly proclaim Wilder as the best heavyweight competing today.

[caldo2025]

Wilder is a hoax who only sells mildly in Tuscaloosa. Wilder is a fancily packaged media hyped protected fraud...

GL: Is there no way around that with an exception so the unification can happen first?

BA: "No because economically it's better off to do Fury and then maybe Joshua. Wilder is a nice guy, but he doesn't bring anything to the table. He doesn't bring any money to the table. Not like these English guys do. What do you do with a Wilder fight? You can't put it on PPV so it goes on regular television and it's not going to do a huge gate."

GL: Maybe if you and Al Haymon found the right deal the fight could be on a major network like Fox or NBC.

BA: "But there's no gelt there. There's more gelt in England. In other words, if it's unification you're going to have to compensate Wilder and you're going to have to compensate my guy and there's not enough money."

GL: Wilder doesn't bring anything to the table. That's interesting.

BA: "It's not that he doesn't bring anything to the table. He doesn't bring enough to the table, not for another champion. The Wilder-Joshua fight would be interesting, but only in the UK. It wouldn't be huge in the United States, but in the UK it would do big business."

Wilder is just another American fighter that likes to look at himself in the mirror while wearing the belt. Nothing more. It's a shame too because if he is half as good as he thinks he is, he could be a huge star in America.

[montrealsuper]

Wilder is a hoax who only sells mildly in Tuscaloosa. Wilder is a fancily packaged media hyped protected fraud...

GL: Is there no way around that with an exception so the unification can happen first?

BA: "No because economically it's better off to do Fury and then maybe Joshua. Wilder is a nice guy, but he doesn't bring anything to the table. He doesn't bring any money to the table. Not like these English guys do. What do you do with a Wilder fight? You can't put it on PPV so it goes on regular television and it's not going to do a huge gate."

GL: Maybe if you and Al Haymon found the right deal the fight could be on a major network like Fox or NBC.

BA: "But there's no gelt there. There's more gelt in England. In other words, if it's unification you're going to have to compensate Wilder and you're going to have to compensate my guy and there's not enough money."

GL: Wilder doesn't bring anything to the table. That's interesting.

BA: "It's not that he doesn't bring anything to the table. He doesn't bring enough to the table, not for another champion. The Wilder-Joshua fight would be interesting, but only in the UK. It wouldn't be huge in the United States, but in the UK it would do big business."

Wilder is just another American fighter that likes to look at himself in the mirror while wearing the belt. Nothing more. It's a shame too because if he is half as good as he thinks he is, he could be a huge star in America.

Wilder knows he can't take a punch and he knows without AL Haymons protection he'd be long gone.

[MrBrownstone]

There is absolutely zero chance Haymon will send his fraud Wilder to England to be slaughtered by Joshua. Wilder will lie and say he is interested but his actions will prove otherwise. Wilder will try to piggyback off Joshua's fame and popularity for the next 3-4 years.

Until he's 36? Time is not on Wilder's side...he's taken the scenic route, which has worked out for him, since he had never been a tremendous fighter..he still throws wild looping punches, and given his record and the way boxing's "big machine" touts him as an equal to other champions, he's been fighting in this somewhat amateurish fashion in fights he should be absolutely dominating, and using to hone/fine tune his skills.
But he simply can't wait 3-4 more years before taking on the best. He is already at an age where, like it or not, his physical abilities will start to diminish. They say power is the last thing to go, so he has that going for him, but it's that and only that.

[MrBrownstone]

A significant aspect in a fighters popularity, or really any athlete, is ESPN. If SportsCenter features even a 10 second blurb update on someone, not every day obviously but maybe 2-3 times a month, you reach a huge amount of sports fans, and probably what most would classify as casual boxing fans...So if you're marketing an American Heavyweight Champion who most people don't know about but here he is and his next fight is a 50/50 fight, I think that generates a good amount of interest. At least definitely more than he has right now. So Al Heyman better start wining and dining the big wigs at ESPN or something, cause Wilder ain't getting any younger

[nmhz]

[KiwiRider]

That's funny!
Windmill Man
The Bronze Miller
Bread Squad

[skinnysteve]

one landed right hand from birdlegs biblical goes bye bye

[montrealsuper]

that gif shows what a fraud hoax wilder is. clown pretender fraud who no matter how much fancy packaging Haymon dressed him up in will always be a protected pretender,

[montrealsuper]

There is absolutely zero chance Haymon will send his fraud Wilder to England to be slaughtered by Joshua. Wilder will lie and say he is interested but his actions will prove otherwise. Wilder will try to piggyback off Joshua's fame and popularity for the next 3-4 years.

Until he's 36? Time is not on Wilder's side...he's taken the scenic route, which has worked out for him, since he had never been a tremendous fighter..he still throws wild looping punches, and given his record and the way boxing's "big machine" touts him as an equal to other champions, he's been fighting in this somewhat amateurish fashion in fights he should be absolutely dominating, and using to hone/fine tune his skills.
But he simply can't wait 3-4 more years before taking on the best. He is already at an age where, like it or not, his physical abilities will start to diminish. They say power is the last thing to go, so he has that going for him, but it's that and only that.

yes 36. if Haymon still needs Wilder to be undefeated when he's 36 he will be undefeated. Which means years and years of more handpicked and or fixed patsies.

[candyslim]

one landed right hand from birdlegs biblical goes bye bye

Always assuming he doesn't get his lights punched out while doing his impression of the class dork who's been pushed too far, once too often and has gone berserk lashing out at anyone in his vicinity.

What do you suppose Joshua's going to be doing while Deontay makes like a drunk in a streetbrawl?

Wilder will be sat on his arse looking bewildered - it'll be Joshua v Martin revisited, mark my words.

[Kalan]

No doubt in my mind Wilder can beat Joshua. Joshua has defensive issues and limited head movement. He would take incoming right hands.

It's pretty hard to take outgoing right hands isn't it?

Joshua showed very good head movement against Klitschko in slipping and ducking... Nothing limited there... Gerald Washington can barely throw and doesn't know what he's doing.. He won the first 4 rounds off of Wilder, though he has the defensive finesse of Charles Martin.

[candyslim]

Tricky but not impossible. Tyson Fury managed it didn't he?