Deontay Wilder fights this weekend.
On November 4th 1994 everyone snickered at the thought of 45-year-old George Foreman climbing between the ropes to face Michael Moorer at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada to challenge for the World Heavyweight title.
I guarantee no one was still laughing the next day when Michael Moorer was scrapped off the canvas in the 10th round having failed to answer the referee’s “10 count” making “Big George” once again the Heavyweight Champion of the world!
Improbably the Champ, born again Christian minister, and grill salesman had captured the unified WBA, IBF and lineal heavyweight championship and in doing so set off a chain of events that threw the Heavyweight division into chaos for the remainder of the decade until Lennox Lewis emerged from the heap to stop Mike Tyson in June of 2002 ending the argument about who really was the best Heavyweight of the Nineties and the Real Champion.
History repeated itself nearly 21 years to the day later when eccentric heavyweight Tyson Fury defeated Wladimir Klitschko in Dusseldorf, Germany on November 28 2015 to capture the entire Heavyweight trophy case. Say what you will about the fight and Klitschko as a champion the Ukrainian had brought stability to the division as the unified champion for six years!
As with Foreman’s improbable win two decades before, Tyson Fury’s victory and subsequent abdication due to his habits outside the ring has sent the heavyweight division into chaos again.
And yet, located on the Black Warrior river in west-central Alabama is the owner of the WBC Heavyweight title. The one belt neither Wladimir nor Fury could capture – The Fighting Pride of Tuscaloosa, Alabama ‘The Bronze Bomber’ Deontay Wilder.
From Driving Truck to Champion
Boxing is replete with fascinating stories, larger than life characters, rags to riches prize fighters and riches to rags bums.
Few can lay claim to the Cinderella Man plot line like Deontay Wilder.
A late comer to the sport, he only took up boxing in 2005 in a bid to earn more money for his daughter who was diagnosed with Spina Bifida a crippling disease that might prevent his child from ever walking or in any way having a normal life.
Wilder who’d been a basketball player in college was a quick study. In 2007 in just his 16th fight he won a Gold Gloves championship. The very next year in 2008 he won the U.S. Olympic trials and qualified to represent the U.S in Beijing that summer.
Wilder won a bronze medal.
That didn’t begin to compare to the pride he felt watching his little girl start to win her own fight against her disease as that same year Naieya was walking, something doctors told Deontay she might not ever do. With that success, Wilder quit his job driving a beer truck and turned pro that November. Wilder bombed on Ethan Cox knocking him down 3 times in the 2nd round forcing the referee to save Mr. Cox from further damage giving Wilder his first pro win.
Mississippi, Arizona, Illinois, California, Las Vegas, Ohio, Deontay Wilder crisscrossed the country for nearly three years fighting 14 times in that span before finally getting some respite fighting before his home town crowd at Shelton State Community College back in Tuscaloosa, Alabama when he beat DeAndrey Abron via TKO in the 2nd round February 19th 2011.
Wilder continued to demolish opponents using his massive 6 foot 7-inch superhero physique and crushing power racking up 25 straight wins and 25 finishes against low level opponents. He captured his first title on December 15th 2012 by switching off Kelvin Price with a savage overhand right in the 3rd round taking the WBC Continental Americas Title belt.
Several defenses followed including an easy win on the road April 27th 2013 at the Sheffield Arena in Yorkshire, UK against perennial opponent Audley Harrison. Wilder needed only 70 seconds to get the job done with a TKO in round one. Next was a terrifyingly violent stoppage win over Siarhei Liakhovich just four months later August 9th. In his trademark style Wilder swung for the bleachers sending Liakhovich down little more than a minute and a half into their bout, Wilder celebrated leaving his foe to convulse on the canvas for several seconds.
Wilder had plenty of time to beach comb in Bayamon Puerto Rico on March 15th 2014 when he faced #25 ranked Malik Scott in a WBC title eliminator fight. Wilder sent the crowd at Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez home early needing less than 90 seconds to send Malik Scott to bed in the first round.
On the 73rd birthday of the late, great Muhammad Ali Deontay Wilder was taken past the 4th round for the first time by Bermane Stiverne at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas January 17th 2015. The bout was for the WBC Heavyweight title and Wilder cruised to an easy unanimous points decision, winning every single round on Canadian judge Craig Metcalf’s card. That night Wilder became the first American to hold a piece of the heavyweight crown since Shannon “The Cannon” Briggs back in 2006. Wilder improved his record to 33-0 though his KO streak was broken at 32 straight.
It’s Good to Be Champ!
Since winning the WBC heavyweight title in January 2015 Wilder’s schedule has slowed considerably. He’s fought just four times in the last two years again, against a cringe worthy level of opposition. He went 11 rounds with French punching bag Johann Duhaupas in September 2015 before stopping him.
Before a capacity crowd at the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn NY January 16th 2016 Wilder silenced the partisan Polish crowd with a 9th round Kayo of Artur Szpilka. Wilder had some trouble early on and lost rounds in the beginning trying to negotiate the awkward southpaw style of the Pole. After the fight, Tyson Fury entered the ring to mug and trash talk with Wilder. The state of the heavyweight division makes this a compelling match!
Six months later back in Birmingham, Alabama on July 16th 2016 a past prime Chris Arreola was forced to retire before round nine, his face a swollen mask of pain. For his part, Wilder being an undisciplined puncher complained of pain and thought he may have broken his hand and was not able to use the right much, perhaps if he had it would have been an even quicker end for Areola.
Wilder vs. Povetkin
So far Wilder’s biggest win has not come in a ring but in a court room.
Just two weeks ago, an Alabama court awarded damages totaling 5 million dollars to Deontay Wilder for breach of contract when just days before the scheduled bout with Russian slugger Alexander Povetkin was to take place in May 2016 the WBC was forced to cancel the bout due to a banned substance violation by Povetkin. Samples taken on April 27th showed he had been taking Meldonium, a controversial drug that aides in vasodilation increasing the stamina of the user (Povetkin had his bout cancelled against Bermane Stiverne last December for the same drug.)
Many were disappointed the fight was scuttled as serious boxing fans believed Povetkin might ‘expose’ Wilder for the reckless and unskilled puncher that he is. For the same reason, Lil Wayne was considered the best rapper in mainstream hip hop for several years Wilder’s critics regard him as nothing but a belt holder, his title a reflection more of where the The Game is at in general than Wilder’s personal skill. Povetkin has a much deeper resume only losing to Wladimir Klitschko in a fight that saw him knocked down four times losing his WBA title to the Ukrainian. If Povetkin can clean up his act and Wilder gets past his next challenger maybe those questions will be answered. However, Povetkin is 37 and has now burned the WBC twice in one year so one may want to keep their hands in their pockets if they are the sporting sort.
The Main Event
Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) is in the habit of putting on fan friendly cards and this Saturday February 25th (8 p.m. EST) is no different. Broadcast by FOX from the Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama Deontay Wilder will face ‘El Gallo Negro’ (The Black Rooster) Gerald Washington in the main event for Wilder’s coveted WBC title.
Little more than a month ago, the WBC and their Clean Boxing Program (CBP) nabbed Wilder’s previously scheduled opponent Andrzej Wawrzyk for a banned substance violation. In mid-January, the Polish fighter tested positive for the steroid Stanozolol. Into the breach stepped undefeated Heavyweight Gerald Washington.
Standing 6’6” tall with an 82” reach the Californian will be an equal match at least on the tale of the tape for Wilder.
Washington took the name El Gallo Negro as a nod to his Mexican heritage, Washington’s mother is Mexican and his father is African American and he is a proud representative of both cultures. He sees a win against Wilder as a chance to heal the divide in race relations the US has always struggled with and is acutely felt now, especially by those in the Latino communities of Southern California where Washington is a resident. Washington takes inspiration from the late Muhammad Ali who he saw and history now remembers as a brave and unifying force during the tumult of the 1960s
“I’ve always been the type of guy to try to pull people together and to stop them from fighting. I see all of this hate and racism going on in our country right now, and it’s absurd,”
He continued “I’m grateful for the true blessing of coming from two cultures, being able to fight for the United States and Mexico and to potentially reach out and touch so many people.”
Should Washington pull of the unqualified upset of the year he would become the first Mexican-American Heavyweight champion of the world.
Washington is 18-0-1 with 12 knockouts. He has no wins of note and only began fighting professionally four years ago, at the age of 30 when it appeared a career in pro football would not pan out. He was a standout in Junior College earning All American honors as a sophomore. Washington transferred to the University of Southern California in 2006 where he saw playing time as a tight end and defensive end.
Injuries forced an early exit from the NFL though he got on practice squads for the Buffalo Bills and Seattle Seahawks. Once that puddle dried up for good however in 2012 Washington swerved and entered boxing.
The Breakdown
Most don’t give Gerald Washington a snowball’s chance in hell to beat Deontay Wilder and I am no different, with one caveat; Wilder is sloppy and wild enough that any heavyweight can land a thudding power shot and write themselves into the history books. Wilder does not have an impressive resume, that’s an understatement but could it be that we have just never seen him challenged? That he is more talented than we give him credit for and if challenged he will rise to the occasion? He’s shown some craft, he boxed well against Bermane Stiverne, the only man to take Wilder 12 rounds and he was the under sized fighter in that bout as he will likely be against Washington. Washington has the tendency to gas, by round three he could be blown out and his already negligible defense will become weary, as much as Washington has a puncher’s chance Wilder is The Puncher in this fight.
That said if I am Gerald Washington and his trainer John Pullman I would recommend going after Wilder immediately! Get him in a corner and rough him up and mug him, hammer the body and get Wilder to drop his hands and look to land a bomb in the first or early second round.
I expect because Washington is bigger, an unknown quantity and dangerous Wilder will want to fight tall and long despite only having a one inch height and reach advantage. Relative to his opponent Wilder should have superior craft, box, keep Washington at bay with a jab for 3-4 rounds, make him move and work, jab the body and solar plexus further depleting his suspect gas tank and get him out by round six.
Following this defense, at nearly 40 fights and what we would assume 6 successful title defenses Wilder needs to fight one of the other champions in the weight class. Joseph Parker now holds the WBO title won late last year in New Zealand. Tyson Fury is technically the lineal champion, Wilder and he already have beef, Tyson knows how to promote a fight if he can keep his nose clean that would be a huge fight especially in the UK. Of course, Anthony Joshua is taking on his first real opponent also this April when he fights former champ Wladimir Klitschko before a reported 90,000 fans at Wembley Stadium in London.
Wilder has a great story, marketable looks, a 97% Kayo rating but after 37 bouts is still little more than a regional draw. He’s in his prime now and with the heavyweight division in flux this is the perfect time for Deontay Wilder to live up to the nickname The Bronze Bomber one he took from the legendary Joe Louis and give fans the fights they deserve and fulfill the potential that Wilder has in the sport of boxing, the sport of Legends.
