By Scott Gilfoid: American heavyweight Deontay Wilder (32-0, 32 KOs) will be looking to add to his consecutive knockout streak this Saturday night on January 17th when he goes for No.33 in his fight against WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne (24-1-1, 21 KOs) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Deontay, 29, has knocked out his first 32 opponents, none of which lasted past the 4th round. The record for consecutive knockouts was set by Lamar Clark when he stopped 44 straight opponents.
The career record was set on January 11th, 1960, and no one has gotten close to that mark yet. Deontay, 6’7”, needs another 12 knockouts to tie the mark set by Clark. That’s obviously not going to be an easy task for Deontay, because Stiverne has a head that can take abnormal punishment, as we saw in his two fights against Chris Arreola. However, Stiverne folded like a cheap suit in his fight against Demetrius King in 2007 in getting stopped in the 4th round.
While Stiverne protested the stoppage, it was pretty clear that the referee Johnny Callas did Stiverne a huge favor in stopping the fight with him still on his feet in the 4th. Stiverne was against the ropes and near helpless as King nailed him with one huge right hand to the head after another without stop. It was like King was an iron worker pounding on a piece of medal that was being bent into shape. Stiverne was offering no resistance after he was hurt by King and it was lucky that the fight was stopped when it was.
If Deontay can knock Stiverne out in this fight, it would be a huge plus for his career because it would be his first real scalp on his resume, and doing it against a guy with the kind of punch resistance that Stiverne has would be a major accomplishment for Deontay.
“I’m not your average heavyweight,” Deontay said via the Bostonherald.com. “I got to work all day, every day, as it’s my 9-to-5 job. I don’t get paid for overtime so why go all the way? That’s why I finish things early in the ring.”
Deontay does his work quickly, as he doesn’t let his opponents linger around into the second half of the fight by him taking it easy on them. Like a tiger, Deontay goes right after his opponents in throwing with everything he has in his tall frame, and his power is obviously extraordinary.
The reason why boxing fans like Deontay so much, besides his awesome power, is because he’s willing to take risks by going for early knockouts. He’s not someone like IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, who plays it safe much of the time with his holding.
Deontay doesn’t hold his opponents, and he doesn’t jab much either. Every punch he throws is with mean intentions with knockout written all over it, which is why Wilder has so many knockouts now. If he played it safe like Wladimir, he’d likely have only a fraction of the knockouts he has right now. But the knockouts have made Deontay one of the most popular heavyweights in the division.
“I’ve heard nothing but excuses for my 32 wins and when I get 33, I don’t want to hear anything about it. I have no doubt that at the end of this fight my hand will be raised as the new heavyweight champion of the world,” Deontay said.
For boxing fans wanting to see Deontay Wilder shoot for his 33rd straight knockout, his fight against Stiverne will be on Showtime Championship Boxing this Saturday, January 17th. Tickets are still reportedly available at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada for the fans who would like to see it live.
Comments are closed.