By Scott Gilfoid: WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (35-0, 34 KOs) isn’t taking any days off as he prepares for his January 16th fight against challenger Artur Szpilka (20-1, 15 KOs). Wilder, 6’7”, isn’t taking this fight lightly, because he knows this is Szpilka’s Super Bowl, and he understands the Polish fighter is going to be totally amped up trying to beat him to capture his WBC title.
If Szpilka can beat Wilder, he would get a fight against Alexander Povetkin and then possibly a big money fight against the winner of the Wladimir Klitschko vs. Tyson Fury rematch.
Szpilka, 26, has turned his career around since his loss to Bryant Jennings from a year ago. Szpilka looks much better now than he did in that fight, and he’s really shined in winning his four fights. Szpilka beat Yasmany Consuegra, Tomasz Adamek, Manuel Quezada and Tyson Cobb. He looked great in all four fights. The wins showed that the 26-year-old Szpilka has gotten better with training and learning from the mistakes that he made against Jennings. The question is can the improvement Szpilka has made in his game help him to defeat a talent like Wilder? I think not, but there’s always a chance.