By Scott Gilfoid: American heavyweight Deontay Wilder (29-0, 29 KO’s) turned 29-years-old today as he gets ready for his fight this Saturday on Showtime against Nicolai Firtha (21-10-1, 8 KO’s) on the undercard of the Bernard Hopkins-Karo Murat card in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Deontay, 6’7″, is hoping to shine along with WBO middleweight champion Peter Quillin in his match-up against Gabriel Rosado.
Deontay won’t get top billing for his fight because he wasn’t one of the original guys that was planned for the card. He’s also not at the level yet where he’s able to carry a card as the main event, but if he keeps winning like he’s been doing for the past 5 years, we could see him soon as a top of the bill fighter. And who knows? It’s possible that Deontay could become a pay-per-view fighter in the future if he becomes a big enough star. For that to happen, Golden Boy Promotions will have to advance him against the top fighters in the division so that he can build up a huge fan base. It’s difficult for Deontay to become a star when his fights are three to four fights below the main event. That’s a dead end situation right there, and that’s Golden Boy needs to step it up already so that Deontay doesn’t age out while waiting for a title shot.
The Firtha fight is going to enable Deontay to be tested against his second giant heavyweight of his career. He did great last December in stopping the 6’7″ Kelvin Price in a 3rd round TKO. Deontay was able to handle Price’s size really well, and nullify what he was doing in the fight. When the two came together for a clinch in the 3rd, Deontay staggered Price with two hard right hands to the head. As soon as they were separated, Deontay smashed Price to the canvas with a long right hand to the head. It was a great power punch and anyone would have been flattened by that shot because it was so powerful.
Firtha will enable Deontay to test out his power on a big giant around the same height and weight as him. Firtha has a strong chin and a big, big punch. He’s only been stopped really early in one of his fights back in April of 2006 in his 2nd round TKO loss to James Northey. If Deontay can take Firtha out in the 1st or 2nd round, he’d be doing what other guys like Tyson Fury, Jonathon Banks and Alexander Povetkin couldn’t do to him. That’ll help set Deontay apart from the other heavyweights in the division.
While Firtha hasn’t stopped anyone since his 2nd round TKO victory over Tony Grano in 2010, he still has very good power that a lot of heavyweights would die for. I rate Furtha’s power as being much better than Tyson Fury, and I see him as a bigger puncher than Povetkin and Bryant Jennings. The guy definitely has some pop in his punch. Deontay cannot let Firtha get started in this fight because if he can get his shots off, he might get lucky and score a knockout.
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