By Ian S Palmer
Unbeaten WBC Heavyweight Champion Deontay Wilder of Tuscaloosa, Alabama will be defending his crown against Dominic Breazeale of Glendale, California at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York this Saturday, May 18th. The contest can be seen live in the UK on Sky Sports while American fans can catch it on Showtime and Canadians can see it live on TSN 2. Wilder last fought in December when he battled to a draw with Tyson Fury while Breazeale’s last outing was a ninth-round stoppage over Carlos Negron.
Wilder beat former WBC champ Bermane Stiverne on points in January, 2015 to claim the title and he’s been the champion ever since. Before running into Stiverne, Wilder had stopped all 32 of his opponents including Malik Scott, Owen Beck and Audley Harrison. The 33-year-old Bronze Bomber will climb into the ring with a fine record of 40-0-1 along with 39 Kos and will be defending his title for the ninth time.
Wilder is a former Olympic bronze medalist who became the first American since Shannon Briggs in 2007 to own a portion of the heavyweight title when he beat Stiverne. Wilder is basically best known for two things, which are his size and his power. He stands 6-feet-7-inches tall, has an 83-inch reach, and has stopped every man he’s faced except Fury as he stopped Stiverne with a second remaining in the first round in in their November 2017 rematch.
The champion has 135 rounds under his belt since turning pro in 2008 and his knockout ratio currently stands at an impressive 95 per cent. Just five of his 39 KO victims have made it past the fifth round. However, they were five of his last eight opponents; Luis Ortiz, Eric Molina, Johann Duhaupas, Artur Szpilka and Chris Arreola. So in general, Wilder’s fights are lasting longer than they were earlier in his career. Wilder was nailed by Ortiz in March, 2018 and Fury in December, but showed he has an excellent chin and a lot of heart.
The 33-year-old of Breazeale is a former 2012 Olympian and will enter the contest with an impressive mark of 20-1 with 18 Kos to his name. He’s one of the bigger heavyweights around at 6-foot-7 and possesses a reach of 81.5 inches. He’s the same height as Wilder and gives up just 1.5-inches in reach. He’s certainly able to pack some power in his punches as well as his current knockout ratio is a fine 86 per cent. His lone loss came at the hands of IBF and WBA Champion Anthony Joshua when he was stopped in the seventh round in June of 2016.
Breazeale has a decent chin though and has beaten the likes of Negron, Amir Mansour, Victor Bisbal, Yasmany Consuegra, Billy Zumbrun, Nagy Aguilera and Fred Kassi. He’s gone just 86 rounds since turning pro in 2012 after a fine amateur career. He’s never gone past 10 rounds in his career and he did that against Kassi. Breazeale fought just once last year hasn’t fought top opposition on a consistent basis but was relatively competitive in his outing against Joshua in Manchester three years ago.
Prediction…
Wilder has the edge in experience and power as he’s lethal with both hands. Breazeale’s a big guy though and Joshua is the only man to stop him. Still, Wilder also has the edge when it comes to their chins. Wilder has an awkward but effective style but doesn’t possess natural, free-flowing boxing skills. He can be frustrated by big opponents with better skills and this is why Breazeale needs to use his jab and combinations to try and rack up points as well as hit him with some authority. I wouldn’t recommend getting into a firefight with the champion though. As we saw last week with Julian Williams upsetting Jarrett Hurd, anything’s possible if you have the right game plan in place and stick to it. I think Wilder will eventually catch Breazeale with something clean and hard though just like he’s done with everybody else so far. But unlike Fury, I don’t think Breazeale will be able to finish on his feet.
