Ahead of his heavyweight bout with Tyson Fury this October, Deontay Wilder’s boxing record has been put under scrutiny thanks to a scathing infographic produced by Touch Gloves Boxing.
The graphic shows that 19 of the Bronze Bomber’s first 39 opponents were unranked, while 12 of those fighters fell outside the top 100 boxers in the world.
The image, which was initially produced by Touch Gloves Boxing in 2017, has resurfaced on Twitter with user @ironeyesstipe sharing the photo while stating: “Deontay Wilder Mickey Mouse record.”
Before 2017, Wilder’s highest-ranked opponent was 41-year-old Bermane Stiverne, who he initially beat in 2015 to claim the WBC title.
The pair had a rematch again in 2017, and at that time, Stiverne was an unranked boxer and was comfortably beaten by Wilder via a first-round knockout.
The list shows that Artur Szpilka was Wilder’s second-highest-ranked opponent before 2017, and Szpilka proved an awkward opponent for the Bronze Bomber in their 2016 fight, evading many of Wilder’s punches, but was ultimately knocked out in the ninth round of that fight.
Since then, Wilder has gone on to fight five more times to complete a 44-fight career, which has notably seen him only lose once to Fury in 2020.
Alongside Luis Ortiz, Fury is the highest-ranked boxer the Bronze Bomber has fought at fourth in the official boxing world rankings.
Wilder has failed to win either of those bouts against Fury, who most recently scored a seventh-round TKO on the Bronze Bomber after the referee stopped the fight early, which Fury believes ‘saved Wilder’s life’.
Speaking to BT Sport Box Office ahead of their third and final match, Fury said: “The moment rose, it happened again, and he ended up going down again with so many punches.
“The final stoppage one was where I was catching him clean, I believe the referee actually saved his life that night and saved his career."
Wilder’s 45th career fight against Fury will take place Saturday, October 9, 2021.