(Photo credit: Esther Lin/Showtime) Deontay Wilder (33-0, 32 KOs) was seen as an unproven fighter with a chin problem and with sloppy skills in the minds of many boxing fans going into his fight last Saturday night against WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne (24-2-1, 21 KOs). However, Wilder proved the critics wrong by showing that he not only had the chin to take some of Stiverne’s best power shots, but he also had the skills to win a 12 round decision to capture the WBC title.
Wilder’s trainer Jay Deas notes that Wilder did a great job of proving the doubters wrong with his performance and he showed that he’s got the skills to win a heavyweight title.
“He proved everyone wrong,” said Jay Deas via the espn.com. “Can he go 12 rounds? Yes, he can. Does he have a power punch? Yes, he does. Can he beat adversity? Yes, he can. Can he be the next heavyweight champion of the world? And yes, he is.”
Wilder definitely showed that he has the punching power even though he failed to score a knockout. He was facing a guy who looked like he was just there to survive rather than win the fight in 36-year-old Stiverne. Knocking out a guy who is mainly covering up and not letting his hands go makes it difficult to score knockouts against. Wilder did hurt Stiverne though three to four times in the fight. He had him badly hurt in the 2nd and 7th rounds. Stiverne was also hurt in the 1st.
It’s just a credit to Stiverne that he was able to take the power of Wilder, because he was hit with some really big shots in the fight that would have felled a lot of the heavyweights in the division.
“I think I answered a lot of questions tonight,” Wilder said. “We knew we could go 12 rounds. We knew we could take a punch. All the hard work was done in camp. I had fun. I’m just excited.”
Wilder kind of had his way in the fight with his jab and powerful right hands he kept hitting Stiverne with all night long. Wilder was rarely hit in the fight, and most of the damage that Wilder sustained came in the 5th and 8th rounds when he failed to move enough to avoid Stiverne’s attacks. In both of those rounds though, Wilder landed some big punches and he didn’t just make it easy on Stiverne.
