Deontay Wilder appears to be closing in on retirement after suffering a heavy defeat to Zhilei Zhang in Saudi Arabia; if this is it, he will be remembered as one of the most devastating knockout merchants in the history of heavyweight boxing.
Wednesday 5 June 2024 19:32, UK
Deontay Wilder was the face of heavyweight boxing. Even if he wasn't. Even if he never really was.
So often the heavyweight mantra is one-punch destruction, the tantalising teetering on the edge of sudden conclusion, the collision of the world's biggest humans with the biggest fists, standing toe-to-toe and trading merciless leather.
There, too, is the sweet science artistry chiselled and cultivated through years of amateur development and unforgiving training camps. But speak to a novice fan and their interpretation of a heavyweight contender might well look, sound and fight a lot like a prime Deontay Wilder.
At his dangerous best Wilder established himself as one of the fiercest knockout merchants in heavyweight history, with a dynamite right hand capable of detonation from anywhere at any moment. That he lacked the finesse and polished skillset of his rivals only accentuated the phenom-feel to his threat. That his style was not as pretty or as refined as his rivals only fuelled the excitement of what became a unique protagonist to the heavyweight landscape.
Oleksandr Usyk ascended to undisputed immortality on sleight of hand mastery and an ever-shifting bob-and-weave equilibrium few have ever really been able to decipher. Tyson Fury made his name on size-defiant trickery with slick feints and tormenting footwork coupled with a traditional heavyweight venom. Anthony Joshua would become a two-time world champion as one of the most potent combination punchers of the modern pool of heavyweights.
Wilder was different. His arsenal was more limited, and yet enough to make him one of the planet's most feared propositions. Rarely has boxing witnessed punch power of such ferocity, the kind that would uphold the traditional definition of the heavyweight division: one clean shot and it's night night.
It was so very obvious and so very apparent, devoid of any subterfuge and not exactly boasting disguise. For the same reason, its demise too has been so very obvious, so very apparent. The right hand no longer wreaks havoc at will as it used to, nor is there the aura of inevitability to Wilder and his ability to incite carnage.
The American suffered his fourth defeat in his last five fights in Saudi Arabia last weekend as he was knocked out in the fifth round by China's Zhilei Zhang, a glancing right hand unbalancing the Bronze Bomber and a crushing shot to his undefended face finishing the job. There he lay flat out on the canvas, Anthony Joshua watching on from ringside knowing the chances of reviving a once-blockbuster fight between the pair had likely just faded for good.
It had again been a shade of the Wilder that previously had the boxing world on the edge of its seat, any intentions to amend his gun-shy display in defeat to Joseph Parker failing to materialise and a glaring absence of fear factor pointing towards a race that may well be run.
Wilder is a proud fighter both in and out of the ring, never shy to adversity or unwilling to bet on his grit against a brick wall. He has also been a long-time advocate for the value of life outside of boxing and returning home safely to the family for whom he has fought so hard to provide. Perhaps more so in boxing than in any other sport it feels unfair to tempt or allude to retirement, but there would be little shame in now deciding to walk away for a man who reignited the American heavyweight scene and delivered some of the most emphatic finishes the sport has ever witnessed.
There were the gruelling wars of attrition against one of the toughest men on the scene in Luis Ortiz, Wilder weathering storms of his own while outlasting and out-grinding the steel-chinned bravery of the Cuban to produce two vicious stoppage finishes. There was the leg-folding one-punch show-closer against Dominic Breazeale, there was the Euro-Step slalom-and-sleep assault to beat Bermane Stiverne.
And he more than played his part in one of boxing's iconic trilogies against Fury, flooring the eventual lineal champion three times across the three fights as he found himself encountered by an inspired Gypsy King on his way to undisputed contention. Within that came one of the great images in boxing history as Wilder shimmied in celebration after a stunning flurry to floor Fury, who somehow arose to miraculously beat the count in the 12th round of their split draw.
Questions will be asked of his switch to trainer Malik Scott and the side-step away from what had made him so special, but his epic duels with Fury no doubt took their toll over time, coupled with a long period of activity between October 2022's knockout win over Robert Helenius and his return to the ring to face Parker last December. Time caught up. It happens in boxing.
At his most potent he was wild, gloriously-erratic at times, a spectacle like no other with a rampant aggression, a menacing heavyweight hop and unrivalled power. That he didn't always catch his man clean would serve as testament to what he had been packing in that right hand, so too a knockout-to-win percentage of 97.67 that ranks as the highest in heavyweight boxing history.
In another world things might have been different for the former WBC world champion, and sport might have never been fortunate enough to applaud one of its coveted entertainers.
Wilder had been a latecomer to the sport having only started boxing at the age of 20 back in 2006. His introduction at Skyy boxing gym had come in the wake of discovering a year earlier that his daughter would be born with spina bifida, Wilder realising the need for financial support.
A year later in 2007 he was ousting favourites to win the US championships. Two years later in 2008 he was winning bronze at the Olympic Games after losing out to Italy's Clemente Russo in the semi-final. Some 12 years and 48 professional fights later he is known around the globe as one of the heaviest-hitting knockout machines ever to grace the heavyweight stage; nor his losses to Fury or that to Parker and Zhang can change that.
He has changed the lives of his family and arguably surpassed what had been projected for his career, a career that had not always been on the cards. If this is it, he departs a modern great and a show thats proclivity for fireworks will be dearly missed.
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