(Photo credit: Tom Casino/Showtime) By Scott Gilfoid: Heavyweight talent Deontay Wilder (29-0, 29 KO’s) but the boxing world on notice this week by telling the crowd at the latest Bernard Hopkins press conference that he’ll soon be the next heavyweight champion.
Deontay has a fight this Saturday night against Nicolai Firtha (21-10-1, 8 KO’s) but he definitely has mind mind elsewhere in thinking about his goal of bringing back the heavyweight strap to the United States to put on his mantle.
Deontay said “When my name is being announced in the future, everybody that is in that building will stand and applaud, because they will be applauding the heavyweight champion of the world…I’m going to bring it back to America.”
It’s hard to argue with what Deontay is saying because there’s really not much competition that stands in his way to get a world title belt. Deontay is ranked #3 WBC, #4 WBO, #7 WBA, #13 IBF, and he’ll likely be moved up a place or two in the rankings to get him closer to a world title shot against Vitali or Wladimir Klitschko. At that point the end will be in sight for Deontay and he’ll be on the verge of realizing his dreams of becoming a world heavyweight champion.
The 6’6″ Firtha is hoping to act as a spoiler on Saturday to keep Deontay from accomplishing his goal when they fight at the Boardwalk Hall, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA. For Firtha to have a chance of pulling off the upset in this fight, he’s going to have to come out incredibly fast and throw the hardest punches he could ever hope to throw. Maybe if Firtha winds up from the floor with a shot, he might get lucky and stop Deontay, because Firtha has super power and is capable of knocking out anyone in the division if he lands cleanly.
Firtha obviously has problems in his game, which is why he has 10 defeats and a draw on his resume. But there is nothing at all wrong with Firtha’s power. He’s a handful for anyone in the division, as we saw in his fights against Alexander Povetkin, Tyson Fury, Tony Grano and Johnathon Banks. Those guys found out how hard Firtha can hit in their fights, and he definitely gave a good account of himself. With the right kind of training from day one, Firtha would have been a lot better than he is now. He was blessed with excellent power from the start, superb size, and and good athleticism. Firtha just needed some one to develop him into what definitely would have been a top contender.
Deontay will be looking to make an example out of Firtha in this fight because he doesn’t want to leave him out there too long due to the danger that he brings to the fight. You can look for Deontay to try and get Firtha out in the 1st round if possible. Deontay will definitely be swinging for the fences with every punch in this fight because he can’t take chances that something could go wrong.
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