By Maverick Fantana: Last nights action between unbeaten Cuban legend and unbeaten WBC Heavyweight champion of the world may have just given us a glimpse of who the best active heavyweight is today outside of the greatest nation on earth, Great Britain. It was an action packed, back and forth fight, with both men at some point being hurt by their opponent. At times the action was so frenzied it was like watching shoppers in small villages in Wales battle it out for the last few remaining loaves of bread and cartons of milk while blizzards from The Beast from the East bought in 5 feet of snow. Deontay Wilder certainly impressed me and reminds one of former foe, the great Olympic Gold medallist and former WBF Champ, Audley Harrison. I cannot think of a greater complement to give him after his sensational win.
Much ado was made about Deontay weighing in a tad under 215 lbs, and people thought he would lose power and strength because of his weight. But like Audley, Deontay has extremely toned legs and clearly he has never taken much notice of the memes telling people not to skip leg day. This works to Deontay’s advantage, as not only is he able to fit into skinny jeans he also doesn’t have to lug an extra thirty pounds of muscle around causing him to gas. Also as an added bonus he gets leg day aka Wednesday off from the gym so he can stay at home and play Fortnite. He proved last night that having extremely strong legs doesn’t matter for the unique style of boxing skills he utilizes, as he prefers to be off balance 90% of the time. He tricks his opponent into thinking there is ice on the canvas whenever a shot is thrown at him as he darts around like a new born fawn. It is majestic to watch, and America sure can be proud by such displays of in and out boxing.
The jab is one of the most talked about punches in boxing, and for good reason. It is an easy word to remember even for Americans and casual fans can use the word jab and sounds like they know shit about boxing. A strong, pumping jab setting up opponents or merely breaking them down and stopping their rhythm has been a tactic deployed by taller Heavyweights for eons. Ever since real heavyweight boxing began back when British great and Twitter legend Lennox Lewis became champion jabs have been used properly in heavyweight boxing. Deontay Wilder however has a unique jab, in that it sort of resembles Audley Harrisons jab. He wouldn’t jab per se, but leave his hand out there to make sure he was a good couple of feet away from his opponent, lest he get punched in the face. Deontay is obviously a pugilistic student, studying former champs jabs as last night reminded me of Hasim Rahman versus Lennox in the rematch. Rahman just threw his arms out as a sort of defence before being brutally smashed in the chops. Just to show he can mix it up with the best of the jabs, Deontay did flick his jab out Ali style and frustrated his opponent, who was probably thinking about cheese burgers.
Another trait the WBC champ has but is over looked is the intensity he brings, he is so switched on it is unreal. Deontay was so super aware last night that he was in a boxing ring with someone who could punch him back, it was pure delight to watch him flinch and squirm like a true champion whenever his old opponent looked like he was going to hit him. He showed how super fast he was when Ortiz went to throw a punch and in a blink of an eye Wilder was nowhere to be seen, he was all the way across the ring almost as if he was going to leave the arena and go home to watch Youtube. Ortiz was that slow perhaps Wilder actually did do that, but he is so super fast as he always mentions that cameras just couldn’t pick him up. Forget counter punching, shortening his punches or showing any kind of ring saavy, Deontay Wilder blends basic fundamental errors in boxing with the ability to win and that makes him a tough opponent for any non-British world title holder.
We all know Deontay can beat a prime Mike Tyson, he said so himself. People wondered if he was tough enough, if his chin was strong enough to stand up to a 21 year old Mike Tyson. Obviously last night he answered all the critics with style. Not only did Deontay Wilder almost get knocked out after being brutally hurt, he came back to win. If he can stand the punches of a 38 plus year old Ortiz, obviously he can do the same with a 20 something Tyson. A point to raise however if he ever fights Joshua is that if the fight had taken place in the greatest country on this flat Earth Great Britain, Deontay would have been stopped. Just like in his win against fellow Brit Audley Harrison, where he was lucky to gain from a premature stoppage after being behind on all 3 judges scorecards, had the fights of taken place in the States who knows what the outcome would have been (Audley KO 2).
Deontay is tough, fast, and throws hurtful right hands. He is durable it seems, but he lacks the inner strength of all true great champions such as Joe Calzaghe, Ricky Hatton and Tony Bellew and that is obviously not his fault at all, but he isn’t British so people shouldn’t get to carried away with him being the most explosive heavyweight puncher in the division. Also because he isn’t British like Prince William and Prince Harry he isn’t a big draw, which means he will definitely have to come to the UK to get beaten up by Anthony Joshua if he is seriously looking at unifying.
All the heavyweights are fighting in the shadow of Tyson Fury, and Deontay fights for Audley’s glory every time he steps into that ring, which brings out the best in him. He knows how lucky he was to have gotten that win. I don’t think Deontay would rush to fight Anthony Joshua, he needs to prove himself against other top 5 heavyweights first, such as David Price who would likely bang him out in a couple of rounds, in a non-gay way. There is a clear gulf in class between the best Heavyweights in the world, and those outside of Britain. Whilst America is singing the praises of it’s title holder, us Brits like to keep our feet on the ground. It would be hard to see Deontay matching up against the likes of Glen McCrory, Herbie Hide, Pele Reid and Frank Bruno. I don’t see him surviving beyond the fourth round in any of those fights, but luckily for him we are no longer in the golden era of heavyweight boxing so that gives Deontay Wilder a punchers chance at least.
Yours in manliness
Fantana
About the author – Heroic flat earther Maverick Fantana is currently suspended from Facebook for posting pro-British memes and totally agrees with Anthony Joshua’s views about being strict with his niece.