83 Things to Love About Alabama: The perfect engine of destruction — Deontay Wilder

The villain that you love to hate (or, in our case, simply love) there is no more terrifying man in heavyweight boxing than Northport’s own Deontay Wilder. The former Olympic Bronze medalist and reigning WBC Champion has an apt last name — Wilder: from his out-of-the-ring persona, to those frenetic haymakers, to the damage he does with the most vicious right hand this side of Mike Tyson, when he smells blood in the water, Wilder isn’t a boxer or even a street fighter, he’s a perfect machine of destruction.

Some trainers have called him “the most gifted heavyweight since Ali.” At a long and athletic 6’7”, with a ridiculous reach, and a windup that begins in orbit, his power can barely be described.

Despite Wilder’s smack talk, showmanship, and controversial comments, the Bronze Bomber carries a tremendous chip on his shoulder when he climbs under the ropes. With few exceptions, nearly every fighter that has been hyped up to be a real test of Wilder’s endurance or distance or skillset has only set Deontay on the warpath.

Promoted as judgment day, his May bout against heavy-hitting rival Dominic Breazeale was supposed to be all of those things and more — particularly after Wilder’s comments about literally wanting to kill Breazeale.

If you can back it up, then it’s not bragging: it’s a statement of fact. And, Dominic fared no better than 39 people before him.

...Deontay put him to sleep in two minutes:

It was such a concussive right, that you could feel it from your speakers and hear the hammer-heavy leather-on-meat through your set...it even left MMA fighters speechless.

Sadly, the much-hyped unification fight against Anthony Joshua is not going to happen now. The robotic, glass-jawed limey chump masquerading as a heavyweight champion got destroyed last night by a part-time bouncer with four weeks to train. A disinterested Anthony Joshua was knocked down four times, and then gave up against the portly Andy Ruiz. In the process, he likely cost Deontay a $100+ million paycheck at Wembley.

Predictably, after accusing Joshua for years of dodging him, Wilder took to social media to call out the fraud.

But, fear not. This may accelerate Wilder’s quest to unify the belts.

Wilder’s next fight is a rematch against Luis Ortiz, whom Wilder knocked out in the 10th round 14 months ago at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Ortiz (31-1, 26 KOs, 2 NC) turned down a $7 million offer last month to replace Jarrell Miller as Joshua’s opponent June 1.

And Wilder already has another rematch waiting in the wings. On Friday Wilder announced that a deal was reached for a rematch with Tyson Fury - which is being targeted for the spring of 2020. Wilder and Fury fought to a controversial twelve round split draw in December 2018.

The contract between Ruiz and Joshua calls for a mandatory rematch — whether either man have a belt at the time remains to be seen, or whether Ruiz’s mandatory defense comes into play and scuttles the fight is also TBD. But, the upcoming round-robin between the affable Andy Ruiz, the telegenic Anthony Joshua, the bombastic Deontay Wilder, and the larger-than-life Tyson Fury should make for a great spectacle.

Love him or hate him, don’t blink. Deontay’s always a blast. And, he’s our very own.

83 Days until Football Season

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