Deontay Wilder stops Abron, but looks awkward and clumsy

By Jason Kim: Unbeaten 2008 Olympic heavyweight Bronze medalist Deontay Wilder (15-0, 15 KO’s) chocked up his 15th pro win with a 2nd round TKO of an overweight light heavyweight DeAndrey Abron (15-7, 10 KO’s) last Saturday night at the Shelton State Community College, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Wilder, 25, unloaded with a flurry of combinations in the 2nd that ended with the referee stepping in and halting the fight at 1:23 of the round.

Abron tried to protest the stoppage, because he didn’t look at all hurt. However, the referee made his decision to halt the fight because Abron wasn’t throwing anything back and Wilder was really flurrying on him with speedy power shots.

Wilder is off to a nice start with his pro career, but he still looks like a fighter that might cave in as soon as he’s put in with a heavyweight that can fight just a little. At 6’7″ 221, Wilder still seems awkward and clumsy, and his punch accuracy is poor to say the least. Last Saturday night, Wilder was trying to showboat in front of the Tuscaloosa crowd, even doing the Ali shuffle, but he looked uncoordinated and not in the same league as fighters like Wladimir Klitschko when he turned pro.

Wilder needs a tremendous amount of work before he’s going to be ready to face better opposition. Right now, I think even a marginal heavyweight like Tyson Fury would be far too much for the 25-year-old Wilder. He’s got too many flaws in terms of his defense, his lack of a jab and his accuracy. Had Wilder been in there with a good fighter last Saturday night, I think he would lost the fight.