By Scott Gilfoid: The future of the heavyweight division Deontay Wilder (19-0, 19 KO’s) chocked up his 19th consecutive knockout last Saturday night in stopping an able Daniel Cota (17-4-1, 10 KO’s) in the 3rd round of a scheduled 8 round bout on the undercard of the Alfredo Angulo vs. James Kirkland fight at the Centro de Cancun, in Cancun, Mexico. Wilder knocked Cota down two times in the fight, finishing him off with a lancing right hand at 2:55 of the 3rd.
Wilder fought conservatively in the opening round, mostly jabbing and throwing left hooks. However, late in the round, Wilder landing a chopping right hand that put Cota down face first on the canvas. Cota had been doing a great job of ducking Wilder’s right hands, but in this case Wilder smashed Cota with a downward chopping right hand. To his credit, Cota got back to his feet and finished the remaining seconds of the round trying to keep out of range of Wilder’s big right.
The second round was mostly uneventful with the exception of a flurry of punches thrown by Cota early in the round when he trapped Wilder against the ropes. Wilder wasn’t troubled in the least by Cota’s shots and merely spun off the ropes after Cota had finished throwing his flurry to resume jabbing the shorter fighter.
In the 3rd round, Wilder softened Cota up with powerful jabs and left hooks while looking to set him up for a right hand. Late in the round, Cota lowered his head and charged wilder while he was in the corner. Wilder expertly spun Cota around and tagged him with a scorching right hand that put Cota down for the final time. The referee didn’t even think of giving a count because Cota was too badly hurt to continue.
I must say I was very impressed with Wilder’s right hand power. He’s got the kind of power that other heavyweights would die for. However, he still needs a lot of work on his jab, which was a pawing one. Wilder also needs to develop his left hook, because it lacks power as well. But his right hand more than makes up for what he lacks in the way of a jab. Right now I think Wilder can beat pretty much everyone with the exception of the Klitschkos with his right hand alone. He literally doesn’t need anything but his right hand. He kind of reminds me of Cuban Olympic gold medalist Teofilo Stevenson with his Patience and powerful right hand.
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