By Bruce Scott: Deontay Wilder has been a pro boxer for 11 years and WBC Heavyweight Champion for 5 years yet he is still trying to be a star. This writer believes it is down to his management and his carefully hand picked opponents.
Wilder (42-0-1, 41 KOs) won the title in his 33rd fight, by beating one of the least talented heavyweight champions in WBC belt holder Bermane Stiverne by a 12 round unanimous decision in January 2015, and has since arguably cherry picked opponents outside of the top 15 mostly.
Wilder failed to fight Klitschko and Martin
It appears strange that Wilder was not calling for a unification fight with Charles Martin when he briefly held the IBF title from January 2016 to April 2016, as surely Martin would have gone for that. Also, former IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko called out Wilder for a unification fight before that only for Shelley Finkel to say Wilder lacked the experience back then.
Finkel and Lou Dibella tried to get Wilder a name on his record last year by taking on an inactive overweight Tyson Fury, but that nearly backfired on them and they were extremely lucky to get the draw.
It is well documented that Wilder turned down a three fight deal with DAZN that included two fights with Anthony Joshua. The reasoning for this from some sources is because Wilder did not know how much Joshua was getting and he would take his own route to make more money in his next three fights. This appeared to be a very strange decision as we are constantly told by Wilder that he wants “One face, one name, one champion” but when presented with the opportunity he has constantly turned them down.
Wilder chose not to take risky fights
Wilder was also very vocal after Joshua regained his titles by saying he would never fight him. This is a very strange statement from a fighter who has the chance to be the undisputed heavyweight champion and go down in history.
An American heavyweight champion with as many title defences as Muhammed Ali, albeit against very weak opposition, should be a mainstream star and a sponsors dream. One could argue that if Wilder fought more risky fights against the likes of Dillian Whyte, Joshua, Joseph Parker or Oleksandr Uysk he would have been more of a star. Beating Luis Ortiz twice, who biggest name on his resume arguably is Dave Allen, has down little to capture the imagination.
After five years as a heavyweight champion the jury is still out on Wilder, is he mismanaged?