Deontay Wilder vs. Gerald Washington – Official Weights

By Boxing News - 02/24/2017 - Comments

Image: Deontay Wilder vs. Gerald Washington - Official Weights

By Jeff Aranow: WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (37-0, 36 KOs) weighed in at 222 pounds on Friday for his title defense against the unbeaten Gerald Washington (18-0-1, 12 KOs) on Saturday night at the Legacy Arena in Birmingham. Alabama. Washington outweighed Wilder by 17 lbs. in weighing in at 239 lbs. That’s a little lighter for Washington compared to what he usually weighs in for his fights.

Washington weighed in at 243 lbs. for his last fight against Ray Austin last July in beating him by a 4th round knockout. Washington came in at 239lbs for his fight against Eddie Chambers last year in April. He dominated Chambers in winning a one-sided eight round unanimous decision.

If Washington can perform like that on Saturday night, Wilder will be in trouble. He won’t be able to compete with the 6’7” Washington. Wilder is 6’7” as well, so Washington is not going to be able to enjoy a big 6 inch height and reach advantage against him like he did against the 6’1” Chambers.

If Washington is going to win this fight, he’s going to need to beat Wilder at his own game by slugging with him. Washington is probably not going to be able to out-box him from the outside with his jab like he did against the much shorter Chambers. Wilder is going to win the battle if the two of them fight on the outside.

Wilder vs. Washington will be televised on Premier Boxing Champions on Fox. The start time is at 8pm ET/5pm PT.

Washington will need to let his hands go early in this fight if he wants to have a chance of winning. Wilder has one of the best right hands in the heavyweight division, and he’s not afraid to use it. Wilder isn’t going to just and look at Washington for 12 rounds or just jab him. Wilder is going to be throwing his right hand as hard as he can at least 20 times per round. That may not seem like a lot of punches, but when you have the kind of punching power that Wilder has, it’s more than enough. Washington needs to make sure that he throws his right hand early and often if he wants to gain Wilder’s respect and survive.

Wilder has the better speed and power in this fight, but he’s got a shaky chin. Washington isn’t a huge puncher, but he’s got a lot of size to him. He might be able to hurt Wilder if he connects with one of his best shots. It would be a mistake for Washington to focus on his boxing skills, because he’s not going to win the fight by out-boxing Wilder. He’ll get hit too much if he tries to box Wilder. The only fighters that have a chance of beating Wilder right now are ones that try and beat him at his own game. He’s not going to be out-boxed, because his jab is too good and he has too much size going for him.

Undefeated #3 IBF Jarrett Hurd (19-0, 13 KOs) weighed in at 153 pounds for his fight against #2 IBF Tony Harrison (24-1, 20 KOs) in their fight for the vacant International Boxing Federation junior middleweight title. Harrison weighed in at 153 ½ lbs. Hurd and Harrison are fighting for the IBF 154lb title recently vacated by champion Jermall Charlo. He moved up to middleweight title chase titles in that weight class. It’s fortunate that Hurd and Harrison don’t have to face Jermall for the IBF title, because that would make things extremely difficult for both of them. Harrison and Hurd aren’t huge punchers like Jermall, and they don’t have his hand speed and size either.

Heavyweight Dominic Breazeale (17-1, 15 KOs) weighed in at a career high of 263 lbs. today for his 10 round fight against unbeaten Izuagbe Ugonoh (17-0, 14 KOs). The 6’5” Ugonoh weighed in 33 lbs. lighter at 230 pounds. The 30-year-old Ugonoh has good punching power with his right hand, but no defensive skills at all. Ugonoh’s defense is his right hand. He’s shown no ability to block punches thus far as a pro.

Ugonoh looked really bad in his fight against 7’1” journeyman Julius Long in 2015. Ugonoh went the full eight round distance with Long in beating him by an 8 round decision. Urgonoh was getting tattooed all night long by Long’s slow right hands. It seemed like Long never missed a punch in the fight. The judges still gave Ugonoh the victory, but the fight highlighted his lack of defensive skills. Ugonoh changed his fighting style in his last fight against Gregory Tony by using nonstop movement around the ring. Ugonoh nailed Tony with a big right hand to top him in the 2nd round. It was a good win for Ugonoh.

Breazeale was knocked out in the 7th round in his last fight by IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua last June in London, England. After doing a lot of talking before the fight how he was going to take the fight to Joshua, Breazeale stayed on the outside and rarely threw any punches. He fought like he was afraid to let his hands go. That was Breazeale’s third straight poor performance. He’d struggled in his two previous fights against Amir Mansour and Fred Kassi. Breazeale fought well enough to lose to Kassi in 2015, but was given a 10 round decision. Against Mansour, Breazeale was knocked down in the 3rd round. However, Mansour suffered a jaw injury in round 5 and chose not to come out for the 6th. It was lucky for Breazeale that Mansour suffered the injury, because he was having a lot of problems with his punching power.

Image: Deontay Wilder vs. Gerald Washington - Official Weights

Image: Deontay Wilder vs. Gerald Washington - Official Weights

Image: Deontay Wilder vs. Gerald Washington - Official Weights

Image: Deontay Wilder vs. Gerald Washington - Official Weights

Image: Deontay Wilder vs. Gerald Washington - Official Weights

Image: Deontay Wilder vs. Gerald Washington - Official Weights

Image: Deontay Wilder vs. Gerald Washington - Official Weights

Image: Deontay Wilder vs. Gerald Washington - Official Weights

Image: Deontay Wilder vs. Gerald Washington - Official Weights

Image: Deontay Wilder vs. Gerald Washington - Official Weights

Image: Deontay Wilder vs. Gerald Washington - Official Weights

Image: Deontay Wilder vs. Gerald Washington - Official Weights

Image: Deontay Wilder vs. Gerald Washington - Official Weights

Image: Deontay Wilder vs. Gerald Washington - Official Weights

Image: Deontay Wilder vs. Gerald Washington - Official Weights

Image: Deontay Wilder vs. Gerald Washington - Official Weights

Image: Deontay Wilder vs. Gerald Washington - Official Weights

Image: Deontay Wilder vs. Gerald Washington - Official Weights

Image: Deontay Wilder vs. Gerald Washington - Official Weights

Image: Deontay Wilder vs. Gerald Washington - Official Weights