Deontay Wilder will retain title against Artur Szpilka
Deontay Wilder will put his WBC heavyweight championship on the line this Saturday against Polish boxer, Artur Szpilka. The fight, taking place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, will be apart of Showtime’s free preview weekend.
Tale of the Tape:
Wilder: 6’7″ height, 83″ reach, 35-0 record, 34 KOs
Szpilka: 6’3″ height, 77″ reach, 20-1 record, 15 KOs
The betting line for Wilder in this fight is minus-1000 according to Bovada. For fans that are not familiar with how gambling works, you’d have to bet $1000 on Wilder to win $100. Wilder has much more power then Szpilka does, as you can see by his 34 KOs in 35 bouts. Add that with a six-inch reach advantage, and this fight could end quickly.
Wilder and Szpilka ran into each other at the airport this week, and started some pre-fight fireworks. I still cannot determine whether this was set up to promote the fight.
And STILL!!!!! #BombZquad #WilderSzpilka #CantStopMe pic.twitter.com/8EA1Z3wZDM
— Deontay Wilder (@BronzeBomber) January 13, 2016
Szpilka is like many of Wilder’s previous opponents: he has a great record, but is not highly thought of around the boxing world. Szpilka is 20-1 in 21 career fights, with 15 knockouts. Many experts will tell you he has only fought one respectable fighter in his career, and that was Bryant Jennings back in 2014. Jennings won by technical knock out in the 10th round, and went on to challenge Wladimir Klitschko for his titles.
Wilder is coming off a TKO in the eleventh round against Frenchman Johann Duhaupas, who is a similar fighter to Szpilka. Wilder has yet to get a lot of respect around the boxing world as he has only fought one of ESPN’s top-10 ranked heavyweight boxers to this point in his career. He defeated seventh ranked Bermaine Stiverne for his WBC Heavyweight belt last January. This is expected to be Wilder’s final fight against the so called “pushovers” of the heavyweight division. Wilder has even be called out by the number one ranked heavyweight in the world, Tyson Fury.
This leads us to the real story on Deontay Wilder of how will he look against the top three heavyweights in the world. At the moment Fury is ranked 1st, Wladimir Klitschko is 2nd, and Alexander Povetkin is 3rd. Klitschko has said that Wilder needs to fight better competition. It seems we are getting closer and closer to seeing Wilder fighting Tyson Fury this year. Povetkin also has a mandatory title shot against Wilder, which is expected to come later this year.
Fury has said he will be sitting ringside at Barclays Center for the fight Saturday. Fury has a mandatory rematch against Klitschko which will take place in either April or May, and he will then look towards a Wilder bout. When the two finally meet in the ring, it will be an interesting matchup. Fury will be the biggest opponent Wilder has ever faced. Wilder’s advantage usually comes from the fact that his 6’7” height and 83-inch reach is superior to his opponent. Tyson Fury is 6’9″, and he has a vertical of 85-inches. Wilder having to rely on technique may not suit him well.
The recent trash talk with Tyson Fury has put more focus on that fight, and less on the Wilder vs. Klitschko fight people had been clamoring for. Some of the shift in focus was the fact that Fury upset Klitschko on November 28th.
If Fury defeats Klitschko in their rematch, it will likely be Fury vs. Wilder. However, if Klitschko does get his revenge on Fury, it could very well be the setup for Klitschko vs. Wilder. The potential is there, but there are still a lot of things that need to happen. For there to be a Klitschko vs. Wilder fight all of the following things need to happen: Wilder defeat Szpilka, Fury defeats Klitschko, Wilder defeats Povetkin. No matter what happens we should see some big things from Deontay Wilder in the next year. Saturday’s fight is only the beginning.
Keep it locked to BLTD Sports for the latest around the boxing world.
