Deontay Wilder’s second surgery a success

By Boxing News - 07/29/2016 - Comments

Image: Deontay Wilder’s second surgery a success

By Eric Baldwin: WBC heavyweight champion Deontay “Bronze Bomber” Wilder’s second surgery on his hand is reportedly a success. In addition to his right hand surgery, Wilder (37-0, 36 KOs) had surgery to repair his torn right bicep muscle that he injured in his last fight against fringe level contender Chris Arreola this month on July 16 at the Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama. At this point, it’s still too early to know whether the 6’7” Wilder will need a follow up surgery on his hand and bicep to fix the problems.

“Surgery number two is done. Thanks so much to everyone for all the prayers,” said Wilder after his surgery. “Thank you to all the great nurses and staff who took care of me.”

Wilder is a much different fighter without his right hand. If he can’t avoid injury, he’s going to be a pretty limited fighter because his left hand is nothing special. Unlike many of the other top heavyweights in the division, Wilder’s left hand is pretty harmless.

Arreola and his trainer didn’t realize that Wilder had injured his right hand in the 4th round. They should have picked up on it because Wilder stopped using his right hand completely by the 5th. That was a mistake on Arreola and trainer’s part in not figuring out that Wilder was injured again. Wilder came into the fight with a history of right hand injuries, so it should have been a fairly easy thing for Team Arreola to deduce that he had suffered another hand injury.

Deontay says he wants to fight IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champ Tyson Fury and IBF champion Anthony Joshua. The fight against Joshua would appear to be the one closer on the horizon, as Showtime boss Stephen Espinoza wants to match the two giant heavyweights against each other next year in the fall if the two keep winning their fights and remain injury free. That might be easier said than done for Wilder, who seems to be brittle at this point.

Wilder has suffered broken right hands three separate times since turning pro in 2008. It’s starting to look like a chronic thing for the 30-year-old Wilder. He’s going to need to either figure out another way of throwing his to avoid injuries or learn to use it less. One problem that Wilder has with his right hand is that he mainly throws it in an overhand manner. He doesn’t use his right hand for hooks like many other fighters do.

If Wilder could figure out a different way of throwing his right, he might be able to lessen the strain on it. It wouldn’t hurt for Wilder to learn how to throw left hooks as well. Wilder’s left hook isn’t a weapon at all, and he mainly uses his left for jabbing.

Wilder possesses one of the best knockout records in boxing. However, many of his wins have come against weaker fringe level heavyweights and lower level fighters not ranked in the top 15. Wilder still hasn’t beaten a true quality heavyweight at this point in his career, and there remains a lot of question marks about whether he’s got the talent to beat the top fighters. His fight against Joshua next year could answer those questions once and for all.