This is about Deontay Wilder and what I feel last nights fight has done for him. I see people saying its not a good win and hes still a glass jawed fraud, and giving him no credit despite the win. To break down Wilder ill look at what he has and hasn't proved. Has proved/ is good at- Power- Against a guy as tough as Stiverne he had him smashed all over the ring at times. Temperament- No one believed he had the patience to box for 12 rounds, so he proved a lot of people wrong with that. Jab- Cracking jab that he hadn't used much previous to this fight. Stamina- Can go 12 quite easily, yes the pace wasn't great but he looked like he could have gone another 12 to me. Speed- His hands do have good speed and he has very good reactions when he sees a punch coming he avoids effectively. Power in both hands- I think last night showed he doesn't just have right hand power but he packs a good punch in his left too. Control the distance- He dictated the range all fight long, and when Stiverne did get close he nullified his work very well by pushing up against him and pushing off. Not proven/ not good at- Footwork- Was not very impressed by this he just moved slowly, circling around the ring and dodged punches through head movement only. Chin- Still unproven. he did get caught but at no point was he caught real flush with a proper power punch, so we still don't know how good it is. Still better than some believed though. Temperament- This is a big one for me, what will he do when hes in trouble? Also when he lands he then dives in and that could get him hurt in fights. Combos- He still struggles to put a combination together, the only combo he managed all night was a jab, straight right and he will soon get worked out if he doesn't develop that side of his game. Uppercuts- Why doesn't he throw an uppercut? He would have given Stiverne a massive beat down and probably stopped him had he threw uppercuts, he was wide open to them. This isn't an attempt to bash Wilder because I thought he performed very well last night but I don't think last nights win has actually proved to many things because Stiverne was so poor. Let me know if you agree. No bashing of the fighters welcome either!
That's a pretty fair assessment. You are right his footwork is still an issue. While he showed better balance and showed he can fight off the back foot, he did it against an opponent who is very static and just followed him round the ring. When Wilder moves, it's predictable, he chooses a direction and just circles that way, better movers will switch from left to right more and keep better pressure fighters guessing. I will add he did try and throw some uppercuts. He landed a few on the inside, but he also missed hugely with a couple that were so far out even Tyson "uppercut myself in the face" Fury was tutting at how poor they were. It's an and area he needs to work on. Wilders biggest issue other than his sometimes crazy shot selection is how he squares up and still flails away when he opens up. He needs to stay angled from his opponent, had he not squared up in the second when he had Stiverne hurt, he probably would of gotten a knock down but he did and so it was easy for Stiverne to grab hold and tackle him down, in a more stable sideways stance he would have been harder to hold and been more balanced and could have just stepped back to allow Stiverne to fall on to his face.
I disagree with the chin section. If you watch it closely, he received at least 3-4 very serious punches along the rounds. Someone with a poor chin would be knocked down or shaken up whereas he just kept on like nothing really happened. I mostly agree with others.
yup, during the middle rounds he walked right into a bware clean and full force overhand right and just smashed him right back. some on here are clueless about chins, they think since he was TKO'd in the AM's he has a weak chin, just like Kovalev. in the AM's you get stopped just from getting caught clean and knocked off balance. and the KD's in the pros were all balance kd's and one was a legit push.
maybe its true you cant see whats happening in the ring during fights. DW walked right into a sleepio shot and walked right through it. try paying attention during the rounds and keeping your eyes on the 2 fighters. I don't know what round but try watching it
I don't think Stiverne caught him flush with a big shot, he caught him flush with a couple of okay punches but the big power shots missed or just glanced his chin.