By Scott Gilfoid: Huge heavyweight star in the making Deontay Wilder (21-0, 21 KO’s) has a new opponent for this Saturday’s fight at the Oasis Hotel Complex in Cancun, Mexico. Instead of facing Chad Van Sickle as earlier reported, the 26-year-old Wilder will be taking on the hard hitting Jesse Oltmanns (10-2, 7 KO’s) in a scheduled eight round bout.
Wilder is opening a lot of eyes in the United States and around the globe with his tremendous right hand power. He’s got textbook right hand one-punch knockout power, and is perhaps the hardest puncher in the heavyweight division in terms of right hand power. He’s still working on developing his left to where his right hand is, but it’s only a matter of time before his left hand is just as dangerous as his right. Already, Wilder has made huge progress on making his jab more of a weapon for him. When he first turned pro four years ago, Wilder’s jab was little more than a pawing jab that was completely inadequate for the pro game. But in the past couple of years, Wilder’s jab has become much more of a factor for him, and he’s now able to control his opponents with this weapon alone. He doesn’t even need to drop in a right hand bomb in order to pacify his opposition.
I think his jab is now approaching the level of where Wladimir Klitschko’s jab. It’s that good. However, before he’s can get to the next level, Wilder needs to still develop his left hook a lot more to where it can be a weapon for him. Right now, he’s like a fastball pitcher with a 100 mph fastball and an excellent curve, but he’s missing a change up for his game. He needs to work on his left hand to make it more of a weapon for him. I mean, his right hand is lethal enough for him to KO any of the top fighters in the division if he lands it, but he needs a good setup punch with his left hand that’ll help him when he faces good opposition. The good news is Wilder is only 26, so he’s still got time to develop before he’s put in with quality opposition on his way to becoming a world champion.
Oltmanns, 36, is coming off of a close decision loss to Joseph Rabotte in his last fight in June of last year. He’s been taking it easy since that disappointing loss, but he’ll be ready to face the 6’7″ Wilder on Saturday.
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