By Marcus Richardson: Hard hitting knockout artist heavyweight prospect Deontay Wilder (21-0, 21 KO’s) will be fighting on Saturday night against Jesse Oltmanns (10-2, 7 KO’s) in an eight round bout at the Oasis Hotel Complex in Cancun, Mexico. That fight is going to be a mismatch, and it’ll be a surprise if Oltmanns makes it past the 1st round.
However, Wilder, 26, has a nice step up fight scheduled next month on June 23rd against Owen Beck (29-10, 20 KO’s) at the Killer Buzz Arena in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. That fight also is scheduled for eight rounds.
Wilder needs to start facing better opposition because he’s not getting much from the guys he’s being put in with lately. He’s knocking every round out within four rounds and none of the fights are remotely competitive. Beck, 35, might be able to give Wilder some rounds so that he can learn something. Beck probably has about as much chance of beating Wilder as Oltmanns does, as Beck has lost his last seven fights with five of the losses coming by knockout. But he’s still going to show Wilder some different looks and fire back at him with some shots. Wilder needs to face some heavyweights than what he’s been facing, because he’s not being helped by facing weak opposition each time he fights.
Wilder is being brought along slowly because he didn’t have much of an amateur career to speak. Although Wilder did compete in the 2008 Olympics and win a Bronze medal, he did that based on his raw power alone. He little experience before he made it into the Olympics, and he’s still got a lot to learn before he’s ready to face the top contenders in the heavyweight division. Wilder has a powerful right hand, and he’s winning with that hand alone. But he needs to learn to use his left hand so that he can have other weapons to fall back on.