The Case for and against Deontay Wilder

After Deontay Wilder's one round demolition last Saturday night of Dominic Breazeale, suddenly some of the American media (boxing and otherwise) began to seriously discuss Deontay Wilder as the best heavyweight in the world, despite Anthony Joshua holding three of the four recognized heavyweight titles and Tyson Fury holding the lineal title.
As impressive as Wilder was in brushing aside the challenge of Breazeale and it was impressive- was it enough to really consider him as the best heavyweight in the world?

Here is the case for why Wilder is that man in the division and then I'll make the case for why he still  has much to prove.

The Case For:
                       Deontay Wilder is the biggest puncher in the division and with the arguable exception of Naoya Inoue, is the biggest puncher in the game.
Anthony Joshua is a huge hitter as well, but Wilder is the harder puncher of the two.
Tyson Fury isn't a top puncher,so while Wilder-Joshua for punching power is worth arguing, Fury doesn't even enter the picture.
The one punch power that Wilder possesses saved his title against Tyson Fury with a 12th round knockdown and anyone Wilder hits, he has the potential to take out.

                      Deontay Wilder has perhaps the biggest win of any of the three with his win over Luis Ortiz.
Yes, if we are looking at career resume's Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury each holding victories over Wladimir Klitschko are far bigger wins, but Luis Ortiz was closer to his peak than Klitschko was.
Klitschko vs Fury was one of the duller heavyweight title fights in history, while Klitchko floored Joshua and hurt him badly in their match.
Fury's win came first, but Klitschko was clearly sharper and better prepared in his challenge of Joshua.
Still, Luis Ortiz was the "best heavyweight that no one will fight" and Deontay Wilder showed courage and a better chin than I expected in beating Ortiz.

                    Deontay Wilder has made more title defenses than either Joshua or Fury.
Granted, many of those defenses were against C-level fighters, but Wilder still has more experience at the champioship level.
Almost all of those with the exception of Ortiz and Fury, weren't exactly even middle level contenders (you can make an argument that Dominic Breazeale might have been the best of the Wilder challengers outside of those two,although the first fight vs Bermane Stiverne would have a case as well), but still a title defense is a title defense.

The Case Against:
                              Deontay Wilder hasn't beaten anyone other than Luis Ortiz.
Remember that Tyson Fury drew with Wilder and it took two knockdowns to salvage that draw, so that's not a win, so you basically have Wilder with a resume that has a very good win over Ortiz, a draw against the lineal champion and a huge dropoff to Bermane Stiverne and Dominic Breazeale with another sizable dip for Wilder's other opponents.
Wilder is still relatively untested against top opponents and will have never faced a puncher on the order of Anthony Joshua.

                             Deontay Wilder still has a very questionable chin and he's just waiting to be exposed.
Wilder has never faced a puncher like Joshua, Ortiz is a good not great banger and Fury has never been noted as a knockout artist, despite his size.
Still, Wilder was in deep waters against Ortiz and full credit for surviving Ortiz in the fifth round, but the fight that I cannot get out of my mind is his early fight against journeyman Harold Sconiers.
Sconiers, who finished his career with a 18-27-2 mark, dropped Wilder in the second round of their fight and had Wilder in all kinds of trouble in Wilder's thirteenth pro fight.
Points for Wilder for getting up and winning, but the Harold Sconiers' of the world shouldn't be hurting fighters of the level of Deontay Wilder, no matter the point in the career that they fight.

                      Deontay Wilder is not at the technical level of the best heavyweight in the world.
Wilder is wild, wide open and undisciplined in his attack and that leaves Wilder vulnerable.
Wilder did try to fight off the jab and in a more orthodox manner once- in his title winning fight against Bermane Stiverne and that resulted in the dullest fight of his career, which made me question Wilder's ferociousness entering his fight with Luis Ortiz.
It could be that for Wilder to be technically stronger, that it takes away from what makes him the puncher that he is.
If Wilder fights straight up against Anthony Joshua, it might be a tedious fight and might leave him very vulnerable to Joshua's right hand, but charging in recklessly could result in an early KO loss.

I wouldn't rate Deontay Wilder as the top heavyweight in the world.
I would rate him as the hardest puncher in the division, if we look at pure power, but I'd rank him second overall behind Anthony Joshua and ahead of Tyson Fury despite Fury winning more rounds in their draw.
Fury's biggest win was a plodding and boring win over Wladimir Klitschko and even though Fury might be the superior fighter, I'd rank Wilder ahead of Fury for now.