Deontay Wilder to showcase his talent tonight against Liakhovich

By Boxing News - 08/09/2013 - Comments

eKdp6qJMloPumuk5OcRiPaBRAl4RcTYxhNm3mT-W360(Photo credit: Tom Casino/Showtime) By Scott Gilfoid: We could be seeing the future of the heavyweight division tonight with unbeaten American knockout artist Deontay Wilder (28-0, 28 KO’s) on the hunt for his 29th straight KO in his scheduled 10 round fight against Sergei Liakhovich (25-5, 16 KO’s) at the Fantasy Springs Casino, in Indio, California, USA.

The fight will be televised by Showtime, so it’s going to be a great opportunity for Deontay to showcase his talent in front of a huge national audience in the U.S. The 6’7” Deontay has already been pegged by IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko as the future of the heavyweight scene.

Deontay said to Dan Rafael of ESPN “He [Wladimir] told me I’m the fastest guy he sparred with and the best guy he sparred with and the future of the heavyweight division.”

Over a year ago, the last trainer Emanuel Steward said that Deontay was already the #1 heavyweight in the United States, and he felt that he would be ready to fight for a world title within a year. The only thing that Steward didn’t like was how Deontay’s handlers were doing a poor job of bringing him along against better opposition. Steward felt that Deontay was talented enough to have been facing much better opposition at an earlier point instead of having a lot of wasted fights against fodder opposition.

Liakhovich is still a very tough opponent, as he’s got the kind of talent that would give any heavyweight problems in the division. If Deontay can slice though Liakhovich quickly in taking him out in 2 or 3 rounds, then we could be seeing Deontay moved up in his next fight to face the winner of the Chris Arreola vs. Seth Mitchell fight.

That’s what Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer would like to do, and he just needs Wilder to beat Liakhovich in an impressive manner, and likely needs Deontay’s adviser Al Haymon to be on board with it as well. Haymon might have other ideas for who he wants Deontay to face next after Liakhovich.

Here are the official weights during Thursday’s weigh-in for the fight card:

Deontay Wilder 224 – Siarhei Liakhovich 232
Francisco Vargas 130 – Brandon Bennett 129
Jermall Charlo 154 – Antwone Smith 159.6
Allen Nevarez 127 – Rigoberto Hermosillo 126.8
Gary Russell Jr 127 – Juan Ruiz 125.6
Martin Morales 146.6 – Eridanni Leon 146.2
Gerald Washington 245 – Jerry Forrest 241
Juan Gonzalez 156.8 – Leshon Sims 157
Jamie Kavanagh 135.4 – Antonio Meza 136
Robert Easter 135 – Lowell Brownfield 135



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