By Scott Gilfoid: WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder got his replacement opponent Gerald Washington out of the way last Saturday night via a 5th round knockout in front of a large crowd of 12,346 of his supporters at the Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama. Wilder now has his sights set on fighting a unification match against WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker later this year if he can get past his next opponent Hughie Fury.
If Parker loses that fight, then Wilder can pretty much forget about fighting Hughie, because he’s likely going to go in another direction towards someone like IBF champion Anthony Joshua.
Wilder bided his time last night before springing on Washington like a big cat in the 5th round when he unleashed a powerful 1-2 combination that put Washington down.
For all intents and purposes the fight was finished at that point. The boxing fans at ringside saw with their own eyes that the 6’7” Washington was not going to be able to whether the follow up storm once he got to his feet. Wilder looked hungry as he went after Washington with a flurry of shots that had the challenger looking ready to go down. The referee wisely stopped the fight at this point in choosing to save Washington from getting hurt.
Wilder said after the fight that he believes he’s going to really hurt someone inside the ring in 2017 with his power. His right hand is back to normal after having surgery to repair a fracture, and a torn tendon in his bicep.
“I didn’t want to take any big chances. I don’t care about being down on the cards, especially in the early rounds. I take my time and do what I got to do,” said Wilder via Fight News. “I really feel in 2017 I’m going to injure someone, to the point they’re going to have to put a red tag on somebody’s toe. I really feel that way; this is no joke.”
Well, Wilder is going to need to show more of his power in 2017 early on if he wants to get out of the year with his World Boxing Council title still in his possession. Wilder can’t play it safe against Joshua or Joseph Parker, because those guys are early starters. They’re going to try and take the talented 6’7” Wilder out as fast as they can. Moreover, Wilder likely won’t be able to get either of those fights to take place in Alabama, his home country.
It’s more than likely that if Wilder wants to fight Joshua and Parker, he’ll probably need to fight in their home countries, because I cannot see either of them traveling to the U.S to fight a dangerous puncher like Wilder. Heck, even if Wilder fights Joshua and Parker in a city like New York or Las Vegas, the fights would be the equivalent of fighting in a neutral country, because those are not cities where Wilder’s fan base is located at.
“I can get my opponent out any time, especially when that right hand lands,” said Wilder. I wanted to display more with the left hand. I didn’t do it this time. I want to unify the division next. With Parker and the WBO belt, and Joshua and Klitschko fighting for the IBF and WBA, at the end of the year we can combine them once and for all. The more experience I get, the more dangerous I become,” said Wilder.
Parker clearly wants to fight Deontay. But it’s up to Parker if he can make it to the big show for the Wilder fight, because he’s got to take care of the 6’6” Hughie first in their fight on April 1. Hughie will have a good game plan for the fight, which I can imagine will involve a lot of spoiling tactics like holding and running.
Tyson Fury is going to be likely putting a lot of ideas in Hughie’s head for the Parker fight. I wouldn’t be surprised if Hughie has at least four to five plans for spoiling in the fight. It could be a real stinker of a fight if Parker isn’t prepared for the tricks that that Hughie uses in the fight.