By James Slater: Heavyweight hope Deontay Wilder keeps on rolling, and the fans keep on hoping he will take at least a small step up in class of opposition. The 2008 Olympic bronze medallist seems to be in no hurry and his team seem satisfied with his progress thus far. On Saturday night, in his home town of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, the 25-year-old brushed aside 28-year-old Dominique Alexander, 20-12-1(9) coming in.
“The Bronze Bomber” decked Alexander at the start of the 2nd and then finished him off later on in the session with a hard right hand to the jaw. Alexander, a tough guy who has been in with the best, never had a chance of continuing.
Wilder, happy with his 18th win (all coming by stoppage) has now fought and won four times this year and he said after his latest win that he is now done with six-rounders.
“I’m not the same fighter I used to be,” Wilder said to Tuscaloosanews.com. “With all the experience I’ve gotten and all the sparring camps I’ve been in, it’s just a confidence builder even more. This is my last six-rounder. The plan is to move up to eight rounds. We are most definitely going to get in with the big boys now – the eight-rounders. You will definitely see great opponents [in the ring] with Deontay Wilder.”
This is good news. At age 25 nobody is saying the talented 6’7” boxer should be getting in there with top-ten guys already, but what is he learning from wins over the likes of Alexander? (a guy who has been KO’d quickly six times since 2007). With the move to the eight-rounders, Wilder will hopefully test his mettle against a durable fighter, one who has a winning record.
There is no doubt a lot of pressure on the shoulders of the only U.S boxer to have captured a medal in Beijing, and it’s easy to see why his team are taking no chances with their investment early on. A pro since November of 2008, Wilder has barely broken a sweat in any his winning outings (although to be fair, he did get through something of a scare in his fight against Harold Sconiers, who scored a knockdown back in October of last year). The prospect has been very active, however, fighting approximately once every two months.
Let’s see Wilder in there with a Tye Fields, a Dominick Guinn or a Zack Page next.