Every Thursday here at FightHype, I pull out my gigantic, bulbous, bulging sack and give truth-minded boxing fans a gander. This week, I shoot ropes of truth all over comments/questions regarding Deontay Wilder’s comeback and Devin Haney.
DO call it a comeback!
Hi Paul.
I like Deontay Wilder and I honestly don’t get all the flak he gets in some quarters of the boxing fanDUMB. He’s all-action and always comes to fight. He’s got KO power and uses it. The war he waged with Fury in that last fight was classic and it should’ve put any doubt about his realness to rest.
So, I have two questions. One, why do he think he gets so much hate out there? Two, can he make a successful comeback, starting with Robert Helenius this Saturday, and eventually regain a world title?
Thanks for all your years of service to the fans in your writing.
– Peter from KC
Hey Peter.
I’ll tackle your second question first.
History tells us that offense-minded beasts very rarely regain their prime form after suffering a brutal beatdown defeat. Part of what makes them, THEM is a fearlessness that allows them to push forward and be the predator they need to be. Introduce even a half-second of hesitation and/or doubt into their psyche and that really could be the difference between victory and defeat.
Now, having said all that, I think Deontay Wilder could be the exception to that boxing truism. His level of confidence borders on delusion and if pushed, I’d be willing to bet that he’d honestly and earnestly find a reason to argue how he didn’t REALLY lose that last Fury fight, just as he denied and made excuses for his second loss to Fury.
Even if he gets tagged and hurt by Helenius, he’ll keep coming forward and keep throwing fists.
My feeling is that it won’t be too long before Oleksandr Usyk loses a belt or two due to alphabet politics, so that would definitely create an opportunity for Wilder to pick up a belt. So, yeah, he has a chance to regain a world title. He’d also have a legit puncher’s chance against Usyk and would come for the win, unlike an Anthony Joshua who was maneuvered into passivity for long stretches of their bouts.
This upcoming Helenius bout is a WBC title eliminator, but I would strongly recommend against meeting WBC champ Tyson Fury a fourth time.
As for the hate? I definitely have some theories. Most of them center around the shameful anti-Al Haymon and PBC bias displayed by many establishment media members in the beginning of the boxing company’s existence. Wilder (and many other PBC fighters) never got a fair shake and the bias tainted public perception. Sometimes the PBC criticism was warranted, sometimes not. And, very often, there was a huge double standard when it came to judging PBC fighters and non-PBC fighters. Wilder got caught up in that dynamic.
I also have some theories as to why there was so much hate aimed at Haymon/PBC and why there was such a targeted focus on tearing them down and diminishing their work from even before they actually started doing shows. That’s a long response, though, and better saved for another article where I can expand on my hypotheses. In short, it’s because Haymon/PBC challenged the standard operating procedure of the sport, which gave all the power and control to promoters, and distributed more of that power and control to the networks and to the fighters, themselves. That was a direct threat to the big-shot promoters. And, since many of the establishment media-types have been elevated to their top spots by money and/or favors coming directly from those promoters, an attack on the status quo was seen by the media as an attack on them. As a result, they became attack dogs for the promoters. Although much of the fuel for those attacks has been drained, the bias still persists among those fans already indoctrinated. And make no mistake about it, there’s also a racial component to much of this as well. But, again, that’s an article for another day.
What to make of Devin Haney
Magno.
Has there been a world title unification rematch less anticipated that Haney-Kambosos 2? Devin Haney in general is just annoying. So much bravado and talk and then he fights like Devon Alexander 2.0! Booorrring! He’s only got the 4 belts because one was given to him and because the other 3 were taken from a B-class fighter who upset a sick, half-speed Teofimo Lopez (and even then he just barely won). Wake me up when Haney performs like the fighter he seems to think he is.
– Clyde
Hey Clyde.
You’re being a little harsh on Haney, but I definitely see where you’re coming from and, honestly, I agree to some extent.
His win over Kambosos was decisive, but not dominant. And given the clear disparity in talent and ability between the two, he should’ve destroyed Kambosos. He played things safe, though, and some would say he played it smart. But the true greats don’t skirt around the edges when they know they are so much better than their opponent. The greats drill home their greatness. This “smart safety, do just enough to win” mindset is what gives many pause about Haney’s long-term elite-level viability. On the grandest stage of his career, underneath the brightest spotlight of his professional life, he did the minimum needed to get a points win against someone with almost zero chance to beat him. Kambosos didn’t have the ability the take advantage of Haney’s lack of fire-- and he won’t in the rematch this Saturday, either-- but someone WILL if he wades into the deep waters of 135-140. We shall see if the young man can push himself to fight with fire and take some of the risks needed to put on a show fans will enjoy and pay to see again. Shakur Stevenson was able to light that fire under himself in recent fights, so it’s definitely possible.
BTW, that Devon Alexander 2.0 comment was brutal, but maybe accurate. But I think that was my line from a few weeks back. WTF?
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