By Ian S Palmer
The first big fight of 2016 takes place at this Saturday, January 16th when Undefeated WBC Heavyweight Champion Deontay Wilder of Tuscaloosa, Alabama will be defending his title for the third time when he takes on Artur Szpilka of Poland. The 12-rounder from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York can be seen live in the U.S. on the Showtime network while fans in the UK can catch it on Sky Sports. The 30-year-old Wilder enters the bout with a perfect record of 35-0 along with 34 Kos while the 26-year-old Szpilka has a pretty good mark of 20-1 with 15 Kos to his name.
Most boxing fans aren’t too thrilled about this matchup though since they’d prefer to see Wilder take on the world’s elite heavyweights and Szpilka falls just short of that mark. And let’s remember Wilder’s first two title defenses came against Johann Duhaupas of France in September and journeyman Eric Molina back in June, and he knocked both of them out. Wilder, a former Olympic bronze medalist, became the first American heavyweight in close to a decade to own a portion of the title when he beat Bermaine Stiverne of Haiti by unanimous decision in January of 2015.
Wilder is basically well known for two things, which are his size and his power. He stands 6-feeet-7-inches tall, has an 83-inch reach, and has stopped all but one of his opponents, which was Stiverne. The champion has 90 rounds under his belt since turning pro in 2008 and his knockout percentage ratio currently stands at 97 per cent. Szpilka’s also got some power in his fists as his knockout percentage is 71. He’s a southpaw who stands 6-feet-3-inches tall and has a reach of 77 inches. He’s fought 85 rounds since turning pro in 2008.
Therefore, most fans aren’t expecting this bout to go the distance. However, they also believed the Wilder vs Stiverne fight would end in a stoppage too, but it went to a unanimous decision. That win by Wilder made him the first American heavyweight since 2007 to win a world belt. Shannon Briggs was the last to do it. Szpilka may have the power to make Wilder take notice and he also has a decent chin. His only loss came to Bryant Jennings by 10th-round stoppage in January of 2014. The challenger’s biggest wins have been against Ty Cobb, Tomasz Adamek, Brian Minto, Jameel McCline, Owen Beck and Mike Mollo twice.
Just two of Wilder’s 34 Ko victims have made it past the fourth round and they were his last two opponents, Molina and Duhaupas. Szpilka will be hoping his name isn’t added to the list of quick Ko victims come Saturday night, but to do so he needs to land something hard and heavy before Wilder does. However, Wilder showed some fine boxing skills, defence, movement, and a good chin against Stiverne. The challenger’s best chance here is to try and land a big shots soon as possible and if he’s successful, just keep on throwing them.
Wilder will need to establish his jab and just wait for the opportunity to throw his power shots. If Szpilka manages to stand up to them, the champion will simply be able to use his boxing skills to rack up the points. If it turns into an unexpected boxing match, Szpilka will have to use his jab to work his way on the inside of the taller champion. If he can get close to Wilder he needs to make it an ugly fight and simply hope for the best.
Prediction
Wilder may indeed have some weaknesses in his game, but Szpilka likely isn’t the boxer to expose them all. The challenger is younger, but smaller and his only chance really is to land a bomb flush on Wilder’s jaw and hope that he crumbles. That’s not likely to happen though so look for Wilder to successfully defend his crown for the third time with relatively comfortable decision or stoppage.
