WBC heavyweight champion Deontay “The Bronze Bombder” Wilder (41-0-1, 40 KOs) poleaxed mandatory challenger Dominic Breazeale (20-2, 18 KOs) scoring a beautiful highlight reel first round knockout on Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Wilder hurt Breazeale with a right hand.
To his credit, Breazeale came back to stun Wilder with a nice shot while he was trying to finish him. Breazeale got a little sloppy at that point, and was wide open for a monstrous right hand that knocked him flat on the canvas. The referee stepped in and halted the fight at 2:17 of round one. Had this been the referee that worked the Wilder vs. Tyson Fury fight last December, he would have had no choice but to stop the fight unless he wanted to wait around for 15 minutes until Breazeale was cogent.
Breazeale left himself wide open for that right hand from Wilder. You can understand why Breazeale, 33, got careless. He had Wilder stunned, and he started thinking about that glory he would get if he knocked him out straightaway. Breazeale lost his senses completely not realizing that he needed to be cautious, because he was dealing with the most powerful heavyweight on earth in Deontay Wilder. The Bronze Bomber was still very dangerous. He wasn’t that hurt where he couldn’t throw his right hand power shots.
The victory for Wilder was his ninth consecutive victory, putting him in good company with past heavyweight champions Joe Louis, Mike Tyson and Muhammad Ali.
Just for comparison sake, it took Anthony Joshua seven rounds to knockout Breazeale in 2016. Breazeale said this week that he’s a much better fighter than what he was hen he lost to Joshua three years ago. If that’s true, then what Wilder did tonight was even more impressive. Joshua might not want any after he saw what Wilder did to Breazeale tonight. Don’t be surprised if Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing continues to make low-ball offers to Wilder for a fight against AJ. It’s not going to want to have Wilder stop the gravy train. Joshua is bringing in a lot of money right now. If Wilder knocks him out, it could spoil the gravy train. You know what I mean?
With the loss for Breazeale, he might want to think about retiring. He’s blown it twice in big money fights against Wilder and Joshua. It’s unlikely Breazeale will ever get another world title shot against the two. What boxing fans would want to see Wilder and Joshua fight Breazeale ever again?
Gary Russell Jr. TKO 5 Kiko Martinez
Gary Antuanne Russell TKO 4 Marcos Mojica
Gary Antonio Russell TD 6 Saul Eduardo Hernandez
Richardson Hitchins TKO 3 Alejandro Munera
