The Real Problem With Deontay Wilder’s Comments…
By Faisal “Fayz” Masood
Deontay Wilder’s words have been delivering as many knock outs as his fists in recent times, the outspoken heavyweight never has been one from hiding behind his words and isn’t afraid to speak what he believes is the truth. Now believing in yourself as a fighter is something to be commended, if you are going to step in to the squared circle you have to have the utmost faith in your abilities, you don’t become a world champion by doubting your skills but when Deontay Wilder revealed he believed he would knock out a prime Mike Tyson, it rekindled the flame for two arguments. Firstly, the belief that the boxers from today’s era are better than those of the past and secondly the lack of respect shown to legends of the ring.
Wilder referred to the old school Vs new school debate, that the current crop of boxers are better than those of the past and that is why he would have the advantage over Mike Tyson. Yes, there have been advancements in nutrition and training methods and it can be argued that many sports have progressed because of this reason but does this same argument apply to boxing? Boxing is a sport governed by weight classes, fighters weigh the same today as they would have 50yrs ago, in fact that isn’t even true either since same day weigh ins do not occur any longer allowing a fighter to essentially fight in a lighter weight class and then rehydrating in the 24hrs leading up to the fight.
Will fighters improve simply because of better strength and conditioning training methods? The old school fighters were far more active than today’s fighters, you don’t become better at boxing because of a workout routine, you get better at boxing by boxing and sparring. Legends such as Willie Pep and Sugar Ray Robinson fought over 200 times, Robinson retired in 1965 – in his last year of professional boxing, Robinson at the age of 44 fought a staggering 14 times. When a prime Robinson fought Tommy Bell for the world welterweight title in 1946, it was already his 16th fight of the year! Let’s just compare that to Andre Ward, who I believe at the time of his retirement was the best boxer in the world. Between June 2015 and June 2017, his last fight being against Kovalev and his subsequent retirement, Ward fought a total of five times.
Don’t forget these were 15 round fights, and if we are looking at the conditioning aspect, has there ever been a better pressure fighter than Henry Armstrong? Nicknamed ‘perpetual motion’ and ‘hurricane’ for his non stop high tempo in your face fighting style, his sheer work rate broke down fighter after fighter enroute to becoming a three weight world champion, holding these belts across the divisions at the same time – had it not been for a very controversial decision loss to Ceferino Garcia, Armstrong would have held a world title across four weights during a time there were only eight weight classes!
Now Wilder and Tyson are heavyweights, so some may say the argument does not hold true for heavyweights as they are not governed by a maximum weight and todays heavyweights are generally bigger. Whilst this may be true, the fact is Deontay Wilder weighs around 225lbs, not far off from Tyson’s weight of around 215lbs. In the heavyweight division this weight difference is negligible.
Power has also not improved in the heavyweight division despite supposed advancements in training methods and bigger and heavier fighters, arguably the biggest two punchers in history are the heavyweights George Foreman and Ernie Shavers, neither are from today’s era. Shavers weighed around 210lbs and Foreman during his first reign as champion in the 1970’s weighed a little more at around 217lbs. Just to finish off, Ali still remains the fastest ever heavyweight to grace the ring – evolution quite clearly will take a lot longer than 50yrs to change boxing….
Just as disturbing in Wilder’s comments is the lack of respect shown to fighters of a bygone era. In the past we have seen Floyd Mayweather, JR. label himself as the best ever, there is no problem in believing you are the best, Mayweather, JR. is without doubt the best boxer of the 21st century but to battle his corner by trying to pick holes in the resumes of other greats such as Muhammad Ali will not win him any fans, there is a reason why Ali was also called the peoples champion. Claiming to have beaten more world champions than anyone else is also a flawed argument, there are more weight classes and more belts than ever before so naturally you will fight more champions as a result – it may make you a great fighter but it does not make you the greatest fighter. Recently we also saw Mayweather, JR. shift his focus to Sugar Ray Leonard. Now Mayweather, JR. is one of my all time favorite fighters but when did he ever fight opposition such as Roberto Duran, Thomas Hearns, Wilfred Benitez and Marvin Hagler? Leonard not only faced them, he beat them all!
This raises another interesting point, fighters from the past fought the best, there was nowhere to hide. Ali is considered the greatest heavyweight because he ruled the heavyweight division in its golden era, both in his prime in the 1960’s and then again in the 1970’s when Ali was past his best.
Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson are the two most recognisable names in boxing history, it is not a surprise that if someone wants to grab some attention, the easiest thing to do is start comparing and then belittling the greats and name dropping. Floyd Mayweather, JR. should be no stranger to this, Conor McGregor rode off Floyd’s name and reputation to bank himself a 100 million dollar pay day in a sport he had never competed in. It seems Wilder is the latest name to try and increase his profile by riding on the back of a bigger name and former icon.
As for the fight itself, well many fans and many boxers have already voiced their opinion and the general consensus is that Iron Mike would have been far too much for Wilder. Having just commented on resume, Wilder’s record 39 fights in is devoid of any recognizable names, it can be argued that some of Tyson’s foes during his prime would have beaten everyone of Wilder’s opponents too – Frank Bruno, James “Bonecrusher” Smith, Trevor Berbick and even an ageing Larry Holmes would have all beaten anyone Wilder has faced, not to mention names such as James “Quick” Tillis, Tony Tucker and Tony Tubbs.
The old school new school debate may hold weight in other sports, but in boxing there is no argument and there is no argument that would make me believe that right now Deontay Wilder, as big a hitter as he is, would even trouble a prime Mike Tyson.
Check out Fayz’s available books for download on Amazon. He also runs his own Personal Training site and blog over at Fayz Fitness.
Strength and Conditioning for Boxing – Workout Hits to get you Fighting Fit
The Boxing Cheat Sheet – Your Ultimate Guide to Ring Survival
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