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Deontay Wilder turns 40: Five knockouts that made the 'Bronze Bomber' the most feared heavyweight on the planet
Former world champion Deontay Wilder celebrates his 40th birthday today, with the ‘Bronze Bomber’ a feared heavyweight in his heyday.
Capable of ending a fight at any point with his right hand, it is no surprise that 43 of Wilder’s 44 victories have come by way of knockout.
En route to his world title and throughout his 11 successful defences, Wilder garnered a reputation for his stoppage power - exemplified by these five knockouts.
Siarhei Liakhovich
On the verge of breaking into world title contention, Wilder was still making statements in 2013. Siarhei Liakhovich was the former WBO heavyweight champion, albeit seven years removed from his reign.
Still, it was the highest-profile name of Wilder’s career at the time, with many wondering how the ‘Bronze Bomber’ would navigate such an experienced opponent. Armed with knockout power of his own, Liakhovich (then 25-5, 16 KOs) had only been stopped once - in the 12th and final round of his first world title defence against Shannon Briggs.
Wilder had been no further than the fourth round in his previous 28 contests, with 16 stoppages in the first round.
Soon that would become 17 KOs inside the opening three minutes. In the opening minute Liakhovich fared well behind the jab, but soon Wilder realised he could set something up by moving his feet.
He pushed to the side and met Liakhovich with a left, before going down the middle with two straight shots. The second had the Belarusian collapsed on the canvas and clearly in a bad way, with the fight immediately waved off.
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Bermane Stiverne 2
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Wilder defeated Bermane Stiverne by unanimous decision in 2015 to become the WBC’s world champion at heavyweight. Whilst the accolade was a noteworthy achievement, Stiverne came away from the bout with the small consolation that he became the first man to take Wilder the distance, even in defeat.
Two years later, there was a chance of redemption for Stiverne. However, all the fight proved was how much Wilder had improved since becoming a world champion. Stiverne had gone the full 12 rounds with Wilder in 2015 but did not manage make it out of the first in the rematch.
What would have struck fear into the hearts of heavyweights was the fact that Wilder was stalking his opponent around the ring with his arms down, in complete control. Stiverne had his guard up high, only for Wilder to overpower the Haitian and knock him down with less than a minute remaining.
Stiverne beat the count, only to see Wilder standing still in front of him. Both men were statue-esque when the ‘Bronze Bomber’ restarted his assault, again blasting through Stiverne’s guard. In fact, the challenger went down not from a clean shot, but after a right hand was caught by his own arm, such was Wilder’s power.
Now a glutton for punishment, Stiverne got back to his feet and looked set to at least make the second round, with mere seconds remaining. However, Wilder once again started chucking bombs, the fight called off with a second of the first remaining.
Artur Szpilka
Another contest fought after Wilder had earned his WBC world title, Artur Szpilka was taking the American to new places in their 2016 contest.
Wilder was getting used to waiting until later into fights to find stoppages, having been pushed to the 11th and ninth rounds by Johann Duhaupas and Eric Molina, respectively.
However, in both contests he had largely been in control, with the judges having Wilder up by a wide margin on both occasions.
Against Szpilka, Wilder was still up, but certainly was not having things entirely his own way. The southpaw made things awkward for Wilder, who slowly grew into the fight. In the ninth he landed two flush right shots that Szpilka shrugged off with showmanship, but the knockout blow took a bit longer to recover from.
Szpilka closed the distance, only for Wilder to shuffle and clip the Pole’s jaw with a vicious right hook. In quite distressing scenes, Szpilka was on the floor for several minutes, but fortunately the challenger was responsive and only taken to hospital as a precaution.
Dominic Breazeale
Dominic Breazeale had done well to rebuild back to world title contention after unsuccessfully challenging Anthony Joshua for the IBF strap in 2016. Knocked down twice in the seventh, AJ would finish the contest before the end of the round.
Three years later, Breazeale had Wilder’s WBC belt eyed up. For Wilder, the contest represented the opportunity to compare himself to another world champion. What took AJ seven rounds would only take the ‘Bronze Bomber’ one.
Leading into the fight, Wilder had drawn controversy for his comments, stating that he wanted to ‘kill’ mandatory challenger Breazeale.
At the pre-fight press conference in 2019 Wilder brazenly shared: “I am still trying to get me a body on my record.
"Dominic Breazeale asked for this. I didn't go seek him. So if it comes it comes. This is a brutal sport. This is not a gentleman sport.
"We don't ask to hit each other in the face but we do anyway. And you can ask any doctor around the world, he will tell you, your head is not meant to be hit.
"On this particular time we have bad blood against each other. This is the only sport where you can kill a man and get paid for it at the same time. It's legal. So why not use my right to do so?"
Fortunately, Breazeale did survive the encounter. With less than a minute remaining in the first, Wilder released a right hook square on with Breazeale’s chin, sending his fellow American sprawling to the canvas. He managed to get back to his feet, but was in no fit state to fight.
Although a bad taste still lingered in the air thanks to his pre-fight comments, Wilder had restored a sense of danger after his draw with Tyson Fury in December 2018.
Luis Ortiz 2
Just like the Szpilka fight, Wilder was asked questions by Luis Ortiz. The Cuban had already faced Wilder once before when he was the first challenger of his reign. Stopped in the 10th round after going down a total of three times, Ortiz went away to slowly chip away and earn another shot at the ‘Bronze Bomber’.
Whereas in his rematch against Stiverne, Wilder was notably improved, in his second fight with Ortiz it was the Cuban who had learned the most from their first meeting.
Heading into the seventh round, Wilder was down on all three scorecards, having started cautiously. Perhaps the champion would have gone up a gear or two in the last half of the fight, but instead he found a quicker answer.
Showing patience, Wilder waited for his moment - before picking off Ortiz and ending the contest there and then. Having already proven he could end fights early, Wilder had now shown he could bide his time before blowing opponents away later into fights.
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