By Gabriel Princewill-
Deontay Wilder’s sensational first-round knockout of Dominic Breazeale to retain his WBC world heavyweight title in New York demonstrated his awesome power.
Wilder decked mandatory challenger Dominic Breazeale in the first round to register a spectacular victory to sent a warning to the heavyweight division. His record improved to 41 wins from 42 bouts with one draw.
The fight in which Breazeale had promised to respect himself and bring his A game ended in a mismatch with Wilder imposing his supreme power on his fellow Alabama native. Wilder came in at a very trim and fit 15 stonnes 13Ibs, all his body full of muscles with no ounze of fat on him at all. His power appeared to be enhanced as he executed one of the most scintillating knockouts in heavyweight boxing. All the talk of him having no traditional boxing skills stated by Breazeale before the fight was in retrospect nothing but empty rhetorics by a man who had to exercise some confidence in himself to pull off an unlike upset.
An upset necessary to preserve his dignity after being trampled over in the build up to the fight by a world championship king so assured in his ability to deliver that he could talk how he pleased. Wilder has given a hint that he doubted the fight would last three rounds, but nobody expected a master class performance that would see Breazeale- a 6ft 7 inches fighter with 18 ko’s from his 20 wins and just one loss- dumped on the canvas with such mighty force that would render his world title dreams instantly hopeless and sheer fantasy in hindsight.
Breazeale had taken four belt champion Anthony Joshua seven rounds to finish when they me tin 2016. This was an arguably more focused and better trained and experienced Breazeale , but he looked a novice in the WBC king’s company. Finally, all the acrimonious feeling against Breazeale had been ”released” after the looser was laid out senseless, and unable to beat the count at the very first stage of the fight.
LOVE
Reflecting the warm side to the champion, Wilder expressed human love for the man against whom he had been so embittered in the build up to the fight. It was an endearing trait of versatility coming from the venomous punching and talking world champion.
“Everything came out of me tonight,” Wilder told Showtime. “I know it’s been a big build-up, a lot of animosity, chaos and hatred to one another, a lot of words said. It just came out tonight.
“This is what makes boxing great. When you have stuff to overcome. “I’ve told him I love him and I want to see him go home to his family. I know we say things we mean sometimes but when you get into a fight and settle your differences, if you can then hug him and kiss him, I wish the world was like that, handle things with our hands and then live to see another day.”
ANOINTED
After the fight Wilder suggested his freakish right hand power was anointed by God, citing a pronouncement from his grandmother. when he was very young. His power looked like an amazing force with a ‘beware’ notice to the heavyweight division. Fans will wait to see it tested against a higher calibre opponent to see what they make of it, but Breazeale was not expected to fold that quickly.
One wonder’s what Joshua training in his Miami camp made of that explosive finish. Joshua had hoped the fight would go 9 rounds in an explicit testimony to Breazeake’s toughness who went seven rounds with him in 2016.When asked when boxing fans will be opportuned to witness the best in a fashion that would revitalise the division back to the glory days of the 70’s, Wilder said:
“All parties involved are talking,” Wilder told Showtime. “There’s too many people and opinions involved. It will take our teams to sit down, handle things, squash everything and get it done for the fans.
“The big fights will happen the way we all benefit. We risk our lives in here, so let us get our time to iron out our differences and you guys will know when it happens.” It was a short night, but Deontey Wilder looked every bit the danger man of the heavyweight division with that finish.
The boxing world wants to see him square up with Joshua or Fury, but a rematch with Louis Ortis appears on the cards for heavy punching Wilder. His team may want to test whether their man can score a quicker knock out of tough Ortiz this time after the cuban lasted 10 rounds in 2018 after nearly stopping the American in the seventh round. Such an arrangement assumes some element of doubt that Anthony Joshua would be willing to fight Wilder if he is successful on June 1st on U.S soil.