Deontay Wilder - The Real Deal In The Heavyweight Division?

Been interested in this guy for a while now and although he perhaps hasn't faced anybody of note I've loved what I've seen of him so far. He's 6"7, very light on his feet clearly athletic and in fantastic shape, has a jackhammer of a punch record is 20 wins (20 KO's) uses his jab well, clearl thinks about what he's doing, isn't right hand happy even though he has one punch KO power he looks and finds openings for it, had a really strong amateur career, I'm a tad excited about him, anyone else?

Few vids of him here if you have a spare moment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6epKuRJJpHI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0Go2r19CI0
And this is his last outing: (Watch for the falling tree impression) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZOa5Zq_Bmc

What you guys reckon of him? Clearly he needs to step it up but he is clearly someone to look out for, and if we're classing Fury as a prospect then surely this guy has a big shout!!

TRUSS will like him, he does a lot of modelling doesn't he.

We all know being aesthetic is the most important characteristic of a Heavyweight champ.

Looks as credible as any other HW prospect if not more so, watch this space I guess? Interesting comment about the legs though, punchers legs' are usually on the chunkier side

Hah, Truss will love him, but in all seriousness I can see this guy being a major threat to, perhaps even a Klitschko, though he would have to face a couple of sturdier guys, maybe not a top ten Heavy, but someone that can ask a question.

Also by the way, no one has made it past 4 with this guy, and nearly all wins have come in the 1st or 2nd round.

Honestly not seen a huge amount of him, he was on the bill of quite a recent fight and the commentators were saying he has been protected so far.

Hard to tell until he actually goes in with someone dangerous.

Has the basics but we don't know how he would cope against a decent fighter.

The thing is, Fury has at least faced a couple of European-level fighters - I'm not convinced that Wilder has as of yet. His opposition, from what I've seen, has been a joke up to this point, particularly considering he's twenty fights in to his career now.

I'll give him this much, mind you; he's in shape, clearly has a good deal of speed about him and doesn't stay stationary for too long at any one time. Needs to have his chin and stamina properly tested before we can talk about him being a real prospect to get excited about, though.

A fight with Seth Mitchell, the other American Heavyweight 'hope', might give us a bit more of an indication of how good Wilder is.

Put him in with Fury and let's see a real test for both of them. If Wilder is the real deal, he should be able to catch out Fury in a big way. If not, it saves a lot of speculation.

It's unlikely two prospects facing each other, especially if they are from the same country. Fury is a possibility and to be honest Fury would get found out by this guy, he sets up the right hand perfectly and Fury is so weak to it.

Mitchells next fight is a step up against Ibragimov so should find out a bit more about him, not as sold on Mitchell in terms of a talent as Wilder is, but he looks good nonetheless, probably going to try and build a major fight between those two down the line.

Deontay Wilder = Michael Grant

AlexHuckerby wrote:It's unlikely two prospects facing each other, especially if they are from the same country.

Fury v Chisora?

Not saying it doesn't happen every now and then, just that it's less likely Union...

Also, how can you say that Wilder is like Michael Grant?

Least he is an interesting one to keep an eye on, not too many you can say that about in the heavyweight division currently. Only seen him twice but looks quite a decent prospect.

Entertainingly - I posted this about 6months ago - and was laughed off the board - with the usual suspects declaring Wilder "guff", "second rate" and a "bum".

How things have changed after a couple of eye catching stoppages.

Wilder has all the talent - he is big, mobile with a decent dig. Wonderful footwork at times - however, his chin is shaky - he's already been down and the guy who put him down is no great shakes.

So how far can he go? We'll have to wait until he steps up some more. At the moment, he's still at the fight1-5 section of Fury's career, beating the never-weres. He needs to lift his competition at some point and start to beat the not-quites - the likes of Joey Abell and Damian Wills would be good next steps.

After that - the Travis Walkers and Nagy Oligueras and Fres Oqendo's.

Course - by which time, the Kbros will have retired, leaving him well placed to be the next big thing.

Also worth noting is that he took bronze at the Olympics on the back of only about 40 amateur fights. So he's a natural talent and a very young/green fighter. Time is on his side here.

Had no idea you posted on him a while back Oxy, think he's very good so far, time will tell of course and he needs to step up the opposition of course, but everything I've seen about him so far I have liked, not wreckless, he actually has a methodical approach, very fast for a man his size and looks to have fantastic power. He actually reminds me of a young Vitali Klitschko, in his style of course, not much else.

AlexHuckerby wrote:Had no idea you posted on him a while back Oxy, think he's very good so far, time will tell of course and he needs to step up the opposition of course, but everything I've seen about him so far I have liked, not wreckless, he actually has a methodical approach, very fast for a man his size and looks to have fantastic power. He actually reminds me of a young Vitali Klitschko, in his style of course, not much else.

Nice comparison actually. He's a bit quicker than Vitali as well - but arguably with fewer offensive punches.

I get the impression Golden Boy have quite high hopes for him and are moving him along nice and slowly. There really is no need to rush.

Alex I should have gone into more detail about the Wilder/Grant comparison.

What I meant is that he's shown himself to be able to knock over a fair few fighters with ease, is big, mobile and packs a decent punch, and he's starting to get hyped at a relatively early stage of his career. However, I believe he will be found out when he finally meets someone with a semblance of skill.

That said, I would like him to prove everyone wrong, and actually be able to scale the heights. He could be very good for boxing.

Ah right Bounce see what you mean mate, it's always the possibility, especially with Heavyweights who can most certainly deceive as they can look very good decapitating a few "bums" but I actually have rather high hopes for this guy. Or perhaps I'm just clutching at straws praying for someone with real quality to come through.

AlexHuckerby wrote:
Also by the way, no one has made it past 4 with this guy, and nearly all wins have come in the 1st or 2nd round.

That probably tells you more about his opposition than it does about Wilder. Most of them have been even below bum status. He needs to fight someone who actually has a pulse before we can judge him further.
However, he did spar with Haye before the Wlad fight. I bet he learnt more from that than he did in all his 20 pro fights combined.

Just found this comment on Youtube, about Deontay Wilder and I think it tells you all whats wrong with the idiots in boxing yes he's American:


jumperhorsegal (1 day ago)

OK THATS IT THIS GUY IS A BI**H HES 19-0 WITH 19 KOS AND HES FOUGHT NO ONE N NOW HES SAYS HE WANTS A TITLE SHOT???? U SUCK DEONTAY FIND A REAL APPONENT TOMAZ ADAMEK CHRIS ARREOLA ERIC FIELDS OSCAR RIVAS AND IF U GROW SOME BALLS MOVE DOWN TO 170 175 HOPKINS MARTINEZ EDISON MIRANDA LUCIAN BUTE THEY WILL ALL PUT LIP STICK ON U AND MAKE THERE BI**H

I mean did he really just ask a guy who weighed in 215 Pounds and is 6"7 to move down to LHW!?!? Some serious idiots.

Ah youtube. A glorious place. If you ever have half an hour to waste (and mind you - it will be a waste, you'll never get it back) wander online and read the comments on Povetkin's highlight reel (from the beginning), in particular those from one "fafafooey". Absolutely incredible. For the most part, he is challenging people to fights, indulging in racism and homophobia and then hating and screaming at anyone or anything who "likes" his fighter - as only Russians are allowed to like Povetkin.

Seriously weird.

Mercifully, although I have read the ravings of unsound minds before, I've never commented on youtube.
-------------------------
Jumperhorsegal also explains why most HWs fail to reach their potential. Some idiots with laptops demand they get pushed faster sooner and before long, they slip up.

Yeah, jumping from Journeyman like level to a top ten ranked opponent is just stupid, I can't stand to read some of the comments on Youtube, I'm yet to see anyone with any actual intelligence, that being said at times they are funny.

Dunno about his chin he was floored by an opponent with a losing record...

oxring wrote: I get the impression Golden Boy have quite high hopes for him and are moving him along nice and slowly. There really is no need to rush.

What gave you that impression. Lets be honest, anyone can look great vs bums. He didn't need to be rushed but should have at least stepped up after his 10th fight. There also seem to be alot of ex cruisers on his CV. I've yet to see him verses a biggish hw, all seem to be 6ft or less so he would out jab them. Vs cota he was caught quite often and cota was very short and overweight. He has gone down from a weak opponent also and the top heavyweights really have a dig on them. i would like to see him vs taller opponents who he can just bully like the klitschko's, helenius, fury, Price, dimitrenko etc. He needs to step up and get a name on his record like the klitschko's. He may become the next big thing, but untill he starts to step up i'm not convinced. still too wild in my opinion and if he gets tagged his legs are so skinny that if he goes down he will find it hard to recover.

WHU_Champo_League_in_7Yrs wrote:

oxring wrote: I get the impression Golden Boy have quite high hopes for him and are moving him along nice and slowly. There really is no need to rush.

What gave you that impression. Lets be honest, anyone can look great vs bums. He didn't need to be rushed but should have at least stepped up after his 10th fight. There also seem to be alot of ex cruisers on his CV. I've yet to see him verses a biggish hw, all seem to be 6ft or less so he would out jab them. Vs cota he was caught quite often and cota was very short and overweight. He has gone down from a weak opponent also and the top heavyweights really have a dig on them. i would like to see him vs taller opponents who he can just bully like the klitschko's, helenius, fury, Price, dimitrenko etc. He needs to step up and get a name on his record like the klitschko's. He may become the next big thing, but untill he starts to step up i'm not convinced. still too wild in my opinion and if he gets tagged his legs are so skinny that if he goes down he will find it hard to recover.

He has gone down and been hit a bit too easily sometimes - but - as mentioned earlier - he only had about 60 amateur fights in all - including the olympics. Stepping up too soon can be the breaking of a fighter as well as the making of one. For someone with so little boxing experience - he should be making more mistakes than he is in the ring.

So actually - there's some hope for him yet IMO.

oxring wrote: He has gone down and been hit a bit too easily sometimes - but - as mentioned earlier - he only had about 60 amateur fights in all - including the olympics. Stepping up too soon can be the breaking of a fighter as well as the making of one. For someone with so little boxing experience - he should be making more mistakes than he is in the ring.

So actually - there's some hope for him yet IMO.

I do think there is hope for him to become an important heavyweight fighter. Yes, he shouldn't be rushed into the top 10 fighters straight away, he's young for a heavyweight but i look at the opponents he's fighting now compared to those he fought 3 years on his debut and i don't see how there that much better. I also don't see how much he's improved since then, these opponents aren't testing him and he isn't learning as much as he should be at this stage of his career. He only had 60 amateur fights but was also a bronze medalist, he must have some skills. He doesn't need to be protected. He needs to start going the distance so learns how to distance himself against opponents who aren't going to be blown out of the water.

put it like this i reckon he would beat fury!

They certainly need to start matching him with someone who can take him five or six rounds at least. He can obviously punch but there will be guys out there who'll be able to take it.

I like the look of the guy he does a lot of things well but due to the lack of a test we haven't been able to see if he does anything poorly. He seems to have a good bit of power but whether that carries when he moves up in class will be the real test. For a puncher he has very thin legs which could be a worry even if your chin can take a shot sometimes your legs can let you down.

Let him fight Oliver McCall. If he KO's him I will start to be impressed, even if McCall is 803...

Not sure about MCall but Bowe fancies a comeback or how about Holyfield or Grant?

I'd put him in with Grant.

Did Grant not go 12 rounds with Adamek last year. I would put him in with a couple of old has beens like Grant or Holyfield then look at guys like Chambers and Arreola.

It's difficult to know just how much Grant has left. He was outpointed by the powder-punching Adamek and has just beaten that all-time great of the WBF, Frans Botha by KO in the 12th. He's looking a bit shopworn and is known to be chinny.

However he is big, and does have some technique. A decent win for Wilder will surely put him on the right track

Yeah be good to see him in with Arreola at some point. They where mentioning someone was fighting on the Khan bill while Wilder was fighting, can you remember if it was Wilder?

Wilder was suppose to be on the Khan bill but was switched to Mexico. Seth Mitchell maybe?

There certainly a good choice of opponent out there for him to step up too, some a little more than others.

I think GBP are hoping the Klitschkos start slipping and then they will pounce. The guy could be a licence to print money.

yeah america is crying out for a real american heavy - it would appear that they would be really be willing to get behind one. think GBP are keeping him a tad quiet as they will want to avoid the K bros for the time being.

He's one hell of a story. All american talented athlete - but has a kid and needs to make some money for his wife and child. Tries his hand at boxing, wins a few fights at amateur, surprise win at the US trials for the Olympics, gets his shot, bigger surprise to bring home the bronze.

Gets a decent nickname (bronze bomber) and a string of eye-catching KOs - the last one quite an impressive stoppage.

Couple of years time - he'll be stepped up and a title will be talked about - but probably not before.

so in short oxy he took up boxing because he needed some cash. hardly rocky!

AlexHuckerby wrote:so in short oxy he took up boxing because he needed some cash. hardly rocky!

Damn it Alex - where's your sense of poetry. In that light, Braddock was a washed up never was who got lucky once.

oxring wrote:

AlexHuckerby wrote:so in short oxy he took up boxing because he needed some cash. hardly rocky!

Damn it Alex - where's your sense of poetry. In that light, Braddock was a washed up never was who got lucky once.

Tend to agree with ox on this one. The bloke needed money to look after his family, found something he was good at and pursued it. Normally now its mope around, complain a lot, then win the lottery and then complain that it is so difficult that they now have money (divorce follows, money lost, back on dole..). At least Wilder has worked for something and risk himself for his family.

was a joke bhb...

Sorry Alex. Too subtle for me today