Raw, viciously powerful, awkward, utterly unpredictable and oh, so hard to train for Vs. composed, thunderingly powerful, steady and liable to gas out: which wins?
This is the heavyweight question that needs answering and soon.
It’s unbeaten Deontay Wilder, 39-0(38) and the reigning WBC heavyweight king against unbeaten Anthony Joshua, 20-0(20) and the reigning WBA and IBF king.
WBC heavyweight king Deontay Wilder scored that quite special thing this past Saturday night: a first-round knockout in a world heavyweight title fight. It’s a sight to behold: one man, defending or challenging for the (one-time) biggest prize in sports and putting on an utterly destructive performance that sees him walk away the victor inside a mere three-minutes.
Unbeaten Brooklyn bomber, or “Big Baby,” Jarrell Miller is in action this Saturday night, against another big guy in Mariusz Wach. Miller, one of the most prominent trash-talkers in the game today, is chasing a world title shot and the man he really wants to get in a ring with is WBA/IBF ruler Anthony Joshua.
Speaking with Sky Sports once again, Miller, 19-0-1(17) questioned both Joshua’s mental strength and the fact that he has gone from 220 or so pounds at the start of his pro career, to 254 against Carlos Takam just over a week ago.
Former welterweight champ Shawn Porter never disappoints. Last night on the under-card of the Wilder-Stiverne rematch blowout, Porter decisioned a game Adrian Granados over 12 in an eliminator. Porter, who won by scores of 117-111 X3, is now 28-2-1(17). Granados, another warrior who is always involved in good action fights, is now 18-6-2(12).
Porter had one thing on his mind prior to last night’s imporatnt win and he has one thing on his mind now: a return fight with Keith Thurman. As fans know all too well, Thurman and Porter went to war in a great, great action fight in June of 2016, and Porter, having dropped a close 12 round decision, instantly made it clear that he wanted a rematch. With last night’s ninth round win Porter won yet another final eliminator for the WBC welterweight title Thurman currently holds, along with the WBA belt.
Well, Deontay Wilder sure made Bermane Stivere eat his words last night in their basically pointless return fight. Ahead of the rematch, former WBC champ Stiverne boldly stated how “No-one ever knocks me out. It isn’t gonna happen.”
It did happen, though, inside the very first-round last night in New York as a rampaging, viciously determined Wilder absolutely crushed his sixth title challenger, scoring three knockdowns in rapid fashion. Whether or not Wilder’s critics will have been impressed with the win, the 38th KO win picked up by Wilder in his 39 pro wins, is another matter. Stiverne, in poor physical condition, was a slow and easy target, some will say, adding how Wilder simply could not miss. Still, Wilder has sickening power and until anyone beats him he has every right to claim he is “The Man” at heavyweight.
Might we have seen the end of two formerly formidable, now faded heavyweights last night? We’ve surely seen the last of Bermane Stiverne, who has no possible way back from the quick first-round blitzing he fell victim to against WBC ruler Deontay Wilder, and we may have seen the end of British heavyweight Dereck Chisora – at least at top level.
Tyson Fury insists he is ready to regain his status as the world’s premier heavyweight – a position he held for just a few months after upsetting Wladimir Klitschko two full years ago. As fans know, it wasn’t long after the big win in Germany that Fury all but imploded: battling depression, alcohol and drugs and food.
He fought, he drank beer, he smoked cigarettes, and he gave us plenty of entertaining nights and fights along the way, but “El Matador” Ricardo Mayorga surely reached the end last night in Russia.
The 44 year old, having actually won his previous fight this past April (over a 12-17-1 Jaudiel Zepeda who he TKO’d) retired on his stool after nine rounds against unbeaten Russian Andrey Sirotkin, now 14-0(4). Mayorga, who gave it a go while he was able, in the early rounds, falls to 32-10-1(26) and it is to be hoped this will indeed be the final tally for the wild man from Nicaragua.
As fans may have seen, the weights are in for tomorrow’s return meeting between Deontay Wilder and Bermane Stiverne. WBC heavyweight ruler Wilder came in at 220 pounds, which is about normal for him, but Stiverne raised plenty of eyebrows by tipping in at a hefty 254.
Unbeaten Cuban heavyweight Luis Ortiz really blew it when he tested positive for a banned substance a few weeks ahead of his scheduled WBC title challenge of Deontay Wilder. Not only did the 38 year old southpaw ruin that intriguing fight, but Ortiz has now lost the mandatory status he had with the WBA – meaning Ortiz can no longer challenge current WBA (and IBF) ruler Anthony Joshua; not for a year anyway.