The Deontay Wilder Train Roars On
Deontay Wilder knocked out Dominic Breazeale in just 2 minutes in front of a rocking Barclays Center crowd
Coming into tonight, Dominic Breazeale had one primary distinction in his professional boxing career: lasting 7 rounds against Anthony Joshua in a bid for the IBF Heavyweight Title. Tonight Breazeale again challenged for a portion of the Heavyweight Title, but this time Deontay Wilder made sure he didn’t see round 2.
This promotion was a lot more about Deontay Wilder’s burgeoning stardom than it was about the threat Dominic Breazeale posed to his title reign. Lip-service was paid to the inherent threat of any heavyweight boxing match, but the lion’s share of the coveraged focused on controversies like Wilder’s talk of possibly killing Breazeale in the ring (and Wilder’s kind offer to pay for the funeral expenses). Overall Deontay received a star’s bounty of media coverage, and his performance lived up to the attention.
Deontay Wilder racked up 1st round knockouts early in his career, but he has typically found it harder to catch up with his opponents since reaching the world level. Even Gerald Washington and Chris Arreola posed some trouble before succumbing. This wasn’t that kind of fight. Wilder landed heavy leather early in the first and immediately hurt Breazeale. Wilder then got a little over-anxious and Breazeale was able to blunt his momentum with a pair of right hands. Ultimately that moment would be remembered as little more than a speed bump as Wilder would quickly resume his attack and land the KO right hand at around the 2 minute mark in the 1st.
There was a lot of bad blood coming in, dating back to a hotel altercation in 2016 (and a subsequent lawsuit), but the two men were thankfully able to set aside their heat and seemed to show genuine regard for each other and their families after the fight.
It looks like Deontay Wilder is going to be fighting Adam Kownacki next if Kownacki is able to make it past his rumored upcoming fight with Chris Arreola. Based on the local Polish community’s love for Kownacki, a Wilder-Kownacki showdown would do cracking business at The Barclays.
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