By Scott Gilfoid: The unbeaten heavyweight talent Deontay Wilder (26-0, 26 KO’s) showed why he’s so heavily hyped by boxing experts last Saturday night in his 3rd round destruction of previously unbeaten Kelvin Price (13-1, 6 KO’s) at the Sports Arena, in Los Angeles, California.
Using only his right hand, Wilder was able to knock the 6’7” Price out with a peach of a right hand in the 3rd that left Price lying flat on his back with a stunned look in his eyes.
Wilder, 27, says that this fight was the funeral for the old Wilder and the birth of the new Wilder, as he is now heading for a world title in 2013.
Wilder told RingTV “This is Deontay Wilder, baby, and I’m ready to go after the heavyweight championship of the world.”
Wilder may not be nearly as good as he’s going to be in two or three years right now, but he’s definitely got the power to beat pretty much all of the heavyweights in the division right now. He’s got that big right hand equalizer that makes up for what is game is lacking right now.
In analyzing Wilder’s win over Price, it seems painfully obvious that Wilder’s left hand isn’t a big part of his game right now. He’s under-utilizing it for whatever reason, and I suspect he’s not going to be able to develop it by next year when he fights for a world title unless it becomes a major focus during his training camps. Ideally, that should be the major areas that Wilder’s team work on, but it might take a little while to develop.
If Wilder can start throwing left hands and jabs, he’ll be unstoppable for many years to come. I think Wilder is at about 50% capacity of what he’ll be in the future once he learns how to use his left hand to jab and throw power shots, but I still believe he’s good enough fighting with just his right hand to capture a world title.
If Wilder were to fight heavyweights like Tyson Fury and David Price, I can see him knocking both of those guys out because he hits too hard, he’s quick and those fighters have already been shown to have questionable chins.
The only contender in the heavyweight division that I see giving Wilder some rounds is Kubrat Pulev, who with his long amateur background and huge size, he’d give Wilder a decent test before he moves on to world honors.
Wilder would like to take on unbeaten American heavyweight Bryant Jennings in his next fight and may get his wish, because Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya says he wants to match Wilder tough for his next bout in early 2013.
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