With yesterday’s loss to Chinese Zhilei Zhang, American Deontay Wilder should bid Boxing goodbye.
His big right hand failed him; his aggression failed him. Wilder fought more like an amateur and got knocked down in round five by Zhang.
Ahead of the bout, Wilder said the match would determine his future. He said a loss could make him quit boxing and a win would make him stay.
Technically, Wilder should not be fighting anymore going by his own statement but most boxers easily eat baits made of dollars to return to the slaughter house.
Wilder may announce his retirement soon but good money can lure him back to the ring.
At 38, the American has passed his prime and paid his dues, he should go and rest.
Americans and WBC have overprotected Wilder, making him to hold the belt for a long time. He never fought any elite boxer until Fury came on board.
He enjoyed the American press so much that he nearly became invincible but his durability was tested in his fight against Cuban Luiz Ortiz.
Wilder depends only on his right hand, which had since failed him severally. He could not adjust to new formula of boxing, which made him an easy prey for Zhang.
I saw it coming and predicted long before now that Wilder would begin to fall after his trilogy with Tyson Fury. No great boxer survives on a single weapon in his arsenal.
Fury was the first formidable boxer Wilder would fight. The American was battered and humiliated before his teeming fans. He lost two and controversially drew one of the trilogy.
His bout with Joseph Parker exposed him the more as he suffered the third defeat of his career. Wilder’s only gameplan is to land his sledgehammer on his opponent, he lacks the boxing technicality and creativity.
On Saturday night, he recorded the fourth loss in one of his poor outings at the elite class.
For me the American should apply the final brakes and find a new life away from boxing. It is time to enjoy his money.
He should go and see the videos of his two recent losses against Parker and Zhang. He will observe that Parker never gave him space to throw his killer punch while Zhang absorbed it all and still knocked him down.
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Zhang, the big bang, is 41. He is slow but has gotten one of the hardest punches in the heavyweight division. I will liken him to the former champion, George Foreman in his delivery.
Zhang’s jabs, hooks and uppercuts carry a lot of power and they are devastating. Having seen some of his matches, I can say that the Chinese was only unlucky to have lost two matches in his 31 professional bouts with 22 knockouts, two losses and one draw.
He shared ring with Anthony Joshua at the Olympics where he won silver and the Briton won Gold but since he turned professional, Zhang had only lost to Filip Hrgovic and Joseph Parker in a controversial manner.
He knocked down Hrgovic twice in their bout and also knocked down Parker twice in their fight, yet he lost the two, which many boxing fans said should have gone his way.
It took him just five rounds to dispatch Wilder with a devastating hook. Wilder was injured through a counter punch in the fifth round and lost his countenance, turning himself away from Zhang until a hook found him. He could not beat the counts.
In another match on that night, Daniel Dubois earned a technical knockout against Filip Hrgovic when he ruptured one of the eyes of the Croatian.
It was a big win for the Briton who may likely love to face Joshua or Zhang.
Sorry Wilder.
