By Scott Gilfoid: Unbeaten heavyweight prospect Deontay Wilder (20-0, 20 KO’s) faces the hard hitting Chris Koval (25-8, 18 KO’s) on Saturday night in an eight round bout at the Scottrade Center in Saint Louis, Missouri.
Wilder, 26, has knocked out his first 20 opponents and will be looking to add another KO to his growing collection against the 29-year-old Koval on the undercard of the Marcos Maidana vs. Devon Alexander bout. Wilder, 6’7″, has got an amazing right hand that is perhaps the best in the entire heavyweight division.
Wilder’s being brought along slowly, because he had a pretty limited amateur career in terms of bouts before making it onto the 2008 U.S Olympic team and earning a bronze medal. However, Wilder did it on the strength of his right hand power alone, and still needs a lot of work to develop the rest of his game. His left hand and jab both are still in the development stage, and his defense and footwork also need major work. Wilder is probably a two years away from fighting for a world title, but by then he’s going to be a real threat to whoever holds the titles at the time.
Wilder stopped David Long in his last fight back in November 2011 with a single right hand to the head. He stops everyone with right hands, but what makes him look so good is that he’s taking them out with single shots. He’s not hurting them in a lot of cases and then putting them down. Wilder’s right hand is so good that he only has to land a perfectly placed shot to leave his opponent face down on the canvas in no position to continue fighting.
Koval has lost six out of his last eight bouts with five of the losses coming by knockout. That tells you that he’s not likely to last long against Wilder. However, Koval is a good fighter with excellent power and good boxing skills. This is good opponent for a still developing fighter like Wilder to be taking on. Unlike some of the fighters he’s had recently, Wilder should get something out of this fight before it’s over with.
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