By Damian Poole: NO, no, followed by HELL NO!! You would have to be a crazy delusional nut-job or a Wilder fan boy (Wilderet) to believe Deontay the Bronze Bomber is a PPV star or on the cusp of becoming a PPV star. That’s it, article completed, simple open and shut case, lets go straight to the comments section and start trolling one another you might think??? Nah its not that simple? I’ve got another 5 or 6 paragraphs to fill with why, who, what and where jargon to fill.
So why cover an article about Deontay Wilder (41-0-40 KOs) being a PPV star when he has never had a PPV backing by Showtime or anyone else for that matter? Well that is simple question to answer. The likes of Scott Gilfoid, Jim Dower, Tim Royner only cover what goes on in the news. Where as I tend to focus on what’s being talked about by the boxing fans and casuals in the comments section. And at the moment there is an increasing amount of spiel , mostly by the Wilderet’s that Deontay is now PPV star who is going to make millions of Dollars and fill massive stadiums. I know, crazy Wilder fan boy logic rite? Stick with me on this. I will try and explain why these Wilder’ets feel this way, and why they are TOTALLY wrong.
As of lately Deontay Wilder has been making a name for himself with all the white noise he has been spouting on his social media accounts. Airing out his dirty laundry over every failed event that happened in the negotiations between himself and Anthony Joshua in the past 3 months. Deontay has made it very clear he holds Anthony and Hearn solely responsible for what happened and taking zero accountability for his own actions (Like not signing the contract he agreed too). To give credit where credit is due though, Deontay has done a good job increasing his own profile from these failed negotiations even if it is off the back of more popular British world champion. Deontay Wilder’s exposure has also been exacerbated by his online social media groupie’s who claim to call them self the “New Media Army” (insert laughing emoji with tears here)
Quick shout out to the new media army such as Boxingego, Boxing Voice, Deontay’s Boxing Nation, Blue Blood and the LDBC who all played there part increasing Wilders profile, Here is clapping back at you boys for doing your part. With out you’re dedication I don’t think Deontay Wilder would have half the popularity he does now. Even if you guys are a bit one sided and bias.
Bias, the new media army are not bias, they tell it how it is! You might be thinking to your self? (if you are a Wilderet) Well, here are some examples of there biasness. When former world champion Lennox Lewis was quoted in a interview saying He believed Wilders side of events and that Anthony Joshua should have accepted the $50 million offer. These social warrior Youtubers were all over this titbit of news posting Deontay proper gander videos left, rite and centre. But they failed to report or mention the part when Lennox Lewis also said he
believes Anthony beats Wilder. Or when Mike Tyson said Anthony is the better boxer and would be victorious against Deontay. Why didn’t we hear a peep from the new Media then? Is that bias reporting or lack of experience/professionalism we expect from the “Real media” ? Either way they are partly responsible for Deontay Wilder increased profile.
When Deontay realised he was not going to get his own way in negotiating with Joshua, demanding an unrealistic 50-50 split. Wilder decided to change his attention towards another British ex world champion, Tyson Fury who he plans on fighting at the end of the year (With no date or venue, go figure) Deontay Wilder gate crashed Tyson Fury’s pre-fight weigh-in against the little know Francesco Pianeta. The Bronze Bomber was soon mobbed outside the main entrance with dozens of cheering fans wanting autographs and selfies with the Tuscalooscan, It is a shame he doesn’t get this kind of attention back home. Either way the attention did not stop there. Once inside the venue there was even more drama l or as I would like to call it “staged beef” between Wilder and Tyson’s father, John Fury. Clearly John didn’t take too kindly Wilder trying to steal the limelight from his son shouting out his catchphrase “Bomb squadddddd” to announce his presence. And guess who was covering every step Wilder made? You gusset it, his groupie new media army.
Deontay was ring side at the Tyson – Pianeta fight, after Tyson dispatched the Italian, Wilder wasted no time getting inside the ring in front of 20 thousand fans. Whoring himself out for more attention he so desperately craves. I must admit though, there was a some bizarre goings-on inside that ring. Firstly, I couldn’t believe Wilder gave Tyson his WBC belt to parade around the ring as if it was his own. And Secondly, when Tyson & Wilder were posing together for the press photos. I’m sure Tyson tried to kiss Wilder. I would have loved to read the local news paper headline, I can imagine it saying something like “Tyson tries to kiss Wilder in the ring” Brilliant, this stuff wrights it’s self, I’m telling you.
All this drama that’s been played out on social media, with the Anthony Joshua negotiations to nearly making-out with Tyson fury has increased Deontay Wilder’s profile and popularity, of course with a little help from his YouTube warrior groupies. And it’s this exposure coupled with the possible mega fight with Tyson fury, the Wilderet’s claim has catapulted Wilder from being a unknown B-side into a PPV star. I’ve even come across an ever increasing amount of comments that say Wilder will make $300 against Tyson With PPV figures of 3 million buys in the USA and 2 million PPV buys in the UK. Wow, that a really bold statement to make. Only time will tell, but if it does not happen. You can bet I will be making a follow up article. Probably headlined “I told you so”
Ok, it’s my turn to rebuff this nonsense and put it into prospective. First of all some facts, during Deontay extensive 10 year career as a professional boxer he has never been seen on PPV. Actually I tell a lie, He has, commentating for Sky sports when No.1 Heavyweight world champion Anthony Joshua defeated the highly talented former world champion Wladimir Klitschko. Could you really count that as PPV ? Nah I did not think so either.
Deontay’s highest terrestrial TV ratings came against the 39-49 year old (no one really knows) Cuban, Lewis Ortiz. This was Wilder’s highest profile fight to-date (better late than never) and a very entertaining fight at that. But as entertaining the fight may have been, the viewing figures painted a different picture. Only pulling in a poor 1.1 -1.2 million viewership. Now let’s compare that to Anthony Joshua’s highest profile fight which would be against Wladimir Klitschko. Not only was that a PPV fight, but it also smashed UK PPV buy record which was currently held by Mayweather. In all over 1.5 million Brits paid to see that fight. German TV station RTL confirmed that 10.43 million people tuned in to the contest on the free-to-air service. So wilder measly 1.2 millions views is nothing compared to what Anthony “cash cow” Joshua’s 13.9 million views and that’s not including other countries who also aired the fight. And that’s why Anthony is on PPV cause he can pull on those kind of number
I’m failing too see how Deontay Wilder is going to be seen on PPV when he can not pull in the viewership figures needed for a promoter like Showtime to financially back him. Just have a look at the gate figures for some of Wilders past fights, They never sell out with a lot of tickets been given away and we are only talking about small stadiums/Venues with 15-18 thousands capacity. Who on earth in there rite mind would charge $80 to see wilder when he can not fill a Walmart carpark sized venue. I’m just saying.
Wilder’s only chance of being on a PPV is if he fights a British boxer like Anthony Joshua or Tyson Fury. Do you guys and gals notice a common theme here? Wilder can only be successful in his career albeit off backs of other British boxers and not his own merits. Just goes to show his lack of popularity. Wilder is hoping to make a name for himself fighting Tyson Fury. Most people would respect wilder more for doing so. But The Tyson today is no where near the Tyson who defeated Wladimir Klitschko. So how can we respect you for fighting Tyson 3 years too late.
Tyson has spent the best part of 3 years powdering his nose in the ladies room with Charlie while indulging in a food and drink binge where he bellowed up to 300lb. Tyson became so fat, it was rumored he had his own post code (zip code) and that his blood type was DK “Donna kebab” at least when Wladimir Klitschko was out of action for 24 months he was active in two full training camps keeping fit and in shape. But this is the guy the Wilderet’s are claiming will make Deontay Wilder a PPV star. To me, it looks like Wilder is cherry picking the easy fights in the vain attempt to demand a higher purse split against the real money maker Anthony Joshua.
In the past, Wilder’s popularity at best has been, how shall we say, poor? Even on his social media accounts he doesn’t have that many followers surprisingly with the amount of time he spends on there. When you compare it to the likes of Anthony Joshua for example,
Wilder only has 330k followers on twitter, where as Anthony has 2 million. Heck even Lennox Lewis has 550K. Instagram, Wilder only had 990K where as Anthony has 6.8 million. When Wilder was mobbed outside of the Tyson’s weigh-in. The fans weren’t there for Wilder, they was waiting for Tyson. But the UK are very welcoming and we share our love to all boxing who grace our shores. Apart from that one guy who threw his beer over Deontay Wilder. But what do you expect will happen when you insult a hole country by saying UK is the home racists and racism is in there DNA. Cause and effect!!
We all remember when Eddie Hearn was asking random people in New York who Deontay Wilder is and no one knew. That my viewers, is the sad state of affairs Deontay Wilder finds himself as a brand. No one knows him outside of the hard-core fans and I don’t see it happening anytime soon even if he defeats Tyson Fury. But no matter the facts or evidence put forward, we will always have those Wilderets who claim the outrageous such as Deontay Wilder is a PPV star.
Wilder fan boy logic 101.