By Scott Gilfoid: WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (35-0, 34 KOs) is looking for greatness with his pro career. He’s already won one world title after beating Bermane Stiverne earlier this year to rip his WBC belt away from him in a magnificent performance. Wilder next will be defending his WBC title a month from now against #8 WBC Artur Szpilka (20-1, 15 KOs) on January 16 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
After Deontay takes care of business against Szpilka, he’ll be looking to accomplish big things in 2016 by beating the aging 36-year-old #1 WBC Alexander Povetkin, who just happens to be Wilder’s mandatory challenger, and then he wants to go after IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Tyson Fury’s scalp to add to his collection.
A victory for Wilder over Fury will bring him one-step closer to greatness. I am not saying that beating Fury would make Wilder great, because I see Fury as a feather-fisted opportunist, who was only able to beat Wladimir Klitschko because he got old and was finally beatable.
Nevertheless, I do think that a win over Fury will make Wilder the best heavyweight in the division by default. There would only be one world title not in Wilder’s possession once he whips Fury, and that would be the IBF strap, which is about to be fought over by Vyacheslav Glazkov and Charles Martin. I do not see either of those guys being anywhere close to being in the same class as Wilder right now.
There are a couple of young prospects moving up the food chain in Dillian Whyte and Anthony Joshua that Wilder will need to get out of his hair by 2017 or 2018, depending on if the two of them can keep moving forward without too many setbacks. I do not see either of those guys as having the talent to give Wilder any problems.
When healthy, I think Whyte is the better of the two. However, he has had shoulder problems since last September, and he is going to need to take care of those problems for him to be able to compete against a guy like Wilder.
You would hate to see Whyte’s left shoulder problem becoming a chronic thing that follows him around year after year throughout his career. Whyte needs to rest up and let that shoulder issue get better and do whatever he has to for him to be able to continue his career.
You can't buy #greatness in a store. No one can give it to you. You have to discover it within yourself. #BombZquad pic.twitter.com/Z5ejEjeTTr
— Deontay Wilder (@BronzeBomber) December 15, 2015
Below are the fighters that Wilder needs to beat to keep moving forward for greatness:
Artur Szpilka
Alexander Povetkin
Tyson Fury
Luis Ortiz
Bryant Jennings
Wladimir Klitschko
Vyacheslav Glazkov
Dillian Whyte
Anthony Joshua
Kubrat Pulev
Carlos Takam
Charles Martin
Erkan Teper
Joseph Parker
David Haye
At best, we are probably looking at around 15 fighters that Wilder needs to clear out for the time being to cement his Hall of Fame credentials. I suspect there will be some other young heavyweights that come up the ranks by the time Wilder gets through with that bunch, if he can get through all of those people. But with Wilder three to four times per year, he should be able to get through a list like that within four years at the most before moving on to a new batch of youngsters that come up to take the place of the old lions in the division.
Fighters like Haye, Pulev, Povetkin and Fury will likely be gone and retired in four years. I cannot see them still fighting four years from now because of their advanced age and/or their lack of interest in wanting to continue on. Fury is already jabbering about wanting to retire once he tastes defeat. A loss for Fury is just around the corner, so you have to suspect that he’ will be retiring soon.
For Wilder to accomplish greatness, he will need to retire with a record similar to that of Mayweather. We are talking about a record of 50-0 or something close to that. At 35-0, Wilder is 15 wins away from the magical 50-0 mark. If he can get to that record, he is likely going to be a huge pay-per-view attraction and fabulously rich. The U.S has not had a big heavyweight pay-per-view star since Mike Tyson, and Wilder could be that guy if he can win his next 15 fights or so. We are talking big endorsement deals and such for Wilder if he can put together another 15 wins to eclipse Mayweather’s record of 49-0.
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