Deontay Wilder – A Thrilling Warrior Who We Will All Miss When He’s Gone

By James Slater - 12/09/2021 - Comments

As fight fans most likely heard, former WBC heavyweight champ Deontay Wilder has suggested he might, might, be ready to call it a (boxing) career and retire. Speaking with Kevin Hart, Wilder mentioned the other things he is interested in (scuba diving, launching a unisex fragrance) and how he has “accomplished my goals in this sport.” Wilder may or may not retire quite soon, but this much is a dead-cert: we will all miss Wilder when he is gone.

Say what you want about Wilder – be it an attack on him for his “lack of skills, his “weak resume,” his heavy losses to Tyson Fury, who is his defining opponent – but Wilder absolutely gave us some thrills. Thrills of the highest order. Thanks to his freakish punching power, with Wilder scoring all those quick knockouts, we never knew about his ability to take a shot, to dig down deep when things got hot. We know now. Wilder – as he showed in this year’s FOTY, the back and forth, knockdown-layered slugfest epic with Fury from October – has got a fierce fighting heart. Fury literally had to hit him with everything he had in order to get the win (that and show heart himself in getting up from two hefty knockdowns in that sizzling fourth-round).

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If 36 year old Wilder leaves us now, he will leave behind not only some impressive highlight reel KO’s, but also some questions:

Could Wilder have beaten any heavyweight not named Tyson Fury?

Does Wilder deserve to rank as one of the greatest punchers ever?

Did Wilder do enough to be ranked as a heavyweight great?

If he doesn’t fight again, we will never know how the third fight with Fury, and the savage punishment he took during it, affected him. Maybe Wilder knows, or feels, that if he cannot be the best in the world, he cannot carry on; perhaps there is no desire to hold second place in the division as far as Wilder is concerned. We would like to see Wilder return and go back to scoring scorching KO’s, but if he thinks he’s done all he can do and needs to do, then more power to Wilder.

For certain, though his critics moan about the quality of opponents he faced during his reign as WBC champ (Fury aside), Wilder added a whole lot to the heavyweight division through the years 2015 to 2021. Imagine if we had not had Wilder during this time? If Wilder has punched his last head, he will take some replacing as far as the next ultra-exciting, world championship calibre American heavyweight goes. If Wilder does go, he’ll leave one big gap, one big hole.

We need passionate fighters like Wilder, we need vicious punchers like Wilder. If he exits now, there will be a sense of, he could have achieved more, about Wilder. If he fights no more, will Wilder be best remembered as a man who lost the two biggest fights of his career? Or will he be best remembered for his crippling power and for those crazy, 42-2-1(41) numbers? Wilder will certainly be remembered as a fighter who holds the rare distinction of having knocked down every single man he ever shared a ring with.

If Wilder has fought his last, he sure went out with a bang. That and a truly great effort in a truly great fight.

18 thoughts on “Deontay Wilder – A Thrilling Warrior Who We Will All Miss When He’s Gone”

  1. I was just joking about James slater. He is one of the few journalist that are courage enough to get into the ring. The professional boxing ring.

  2. It’s not Deontay Wilders fault other people made him smash his hand to smitherings ,

  3. James slater is a fury fanboy who knows how long fury’s boxing license in the UK has been indefinitely suspended permanently because he has been caught cheating so many times. Over and over again. It’s the same cheating tactics again and again and again and again and again.

  4. The secondary counters stand with both hands held up high at ringside counting aloud and with his fingers clearly seen on video. When the referee has to send a fighter to his own corner the secondary counter keeps counting aloud and with his fingers arms held high. When the referee returns, he picks up the count where the secondary counter is. The ref started all over 1,2,3— Deontay Wilder, you gotta cheat Deontay Wilder to beat Deontay Wilder.

  5. This Slater is a biased reporter taking cheap shots at Deontay Wilder consistently and constantly and is congruent in his actions. A journalist is supposed to know and be impartial.

  6. Deontay Wilder shouldn’t feel bad about being set up for failure. It took a lot of people, time, and money to do it.

  7. We all saw the way the gangsters treated Deontay Wilder. These white executives don’t like Deontay Wilder. I can’t even keep count how many times fury got knocked out

  8. We want to hear more from fury. For at least a year. Please don’t fight Dillian Whyte. Catch covit or something. Buy the franchise belt from Maricio Suliaman. Mandatories don’t apply to fury, just like everything else. Don’t fight anyone for a year, when they come for the belt stripping again, this time buy the franchise belt.

  9. We all agree, no way fury could ever beat Deontay Wilder will the padding in his gloves.

  10. In 2015 Harold Letterman, Laila Ali, Roy Jones Jr,macho Camacho, Larry Merchant, Vinnie paz, boom boom Ray Mancini and many others comprising the board of directors of the Canastonia New York international boxing Hall of fame committee voted the already inducted member of the Hall of fame as the fighter of the century and the most feared and avoided boxer since the inception of the Queensbury rules of boxing.

  11. Deontay Wilder had padding in his gloves and his opponent did not. In all of Deontay Wilders fights with fury,

  12. All of you so called boxing experts are really low inborn quality of spirit. Deontay Wilder can’t be beat within the Queensbury rules of boxing. It’s really ignorant to pretend you don’t know that. Unless you is high school boy who needs a role model and listens to you idiotic baphoons and clowns.

  13. I am applaud and ashamed of the overt way my white brothers have handled this unique charismatic athletic superstar Deontay Wilder. Bad news

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