The 9th round. All the other rounds Szpilka was slippery but Wilder landed a multitude of right hands. The only reason Wilder was even able to KO him was because Szpilka started fighting Wilder aggressively and ran into a right cross. If he stayed defensive he might have actually beaten Wilder
Who cares what round it was, and what does Spilka being “slippery” have to do with the question? There are plenty of big punchers in boxing that don’t get early KO’s or even a KO at all because they don’t have great timing, their accuracy is erratic, they struggle controlling distance, they’re over aggressive, they don’t set up their shots and on and on. But that has nothing to do with pure punching power. Being a huge puncher doesn’t mean you’re a great boxer and being a huge puncher doesn’t mean you’re going to starch everyone early. There’s a lot more to scoring knockouts than power. That’s not how boxing works. Power means nothing if you can’t get home.
But thats not my point. My point it Szpilka literally into Wilders punch, significantly amplifying the force of Wilders punch in comparison to him getting hit by it in the previous rounds. When Wilder landed his normal shots flush at range Szpilka took them fine
Yeah but at long range he took the punches fine. And thats usually where Wilder is most dangerous at... long range. Because he can put a lot of momentum into those shots. What im trying to say is despite Szpilka not having the best chin he still brushed off most of Wilders dynamic supersonic long range right hands. Until he lunged into one, yes Wilder timed it but still Szpilka ran into it. but Chisora brutally KO'd Szpilka quicker. Povetkin also wiped out Duhaupas quicker than Wilder (Povetkin was clear juiced out his ass) as well even tho Wilder was teeing off on him. It does put Wilders power into question. But then again he blasted out most of his opponents with ease and Eric Molina himself claimed Wilder hit harder than Aj. I do believe Wilder hits harder no ones disputing but sometimes i think his power might be a bit overrated.
Joshua is much more accurate than Wilder and technically better. His overall output of punches might be harder than Wilder. But best for best punch, no.
I think the Breazeale fight is misleading and perhaps that performance led to Wilder's power being over hyped at the time. Fact is 1st round KO's can often be misleading as fighters in that 1 st round haven't fully warmed up and can be hurt or even KO'ed by shots that later in the fight the same fighter will shrug off. Also Breazeale has been hurt earlier in the round and probably was still hurt when he took that 2nd flush right hand. Personally I'd like to see Wilder's power vs better opposition. How good is Ortiz's chin really, he's fought no real punchers other than Wilder. Breazeale has a decent chin but he's been hurt and stopped before vs Joshua and Mansour. If Wilder does fight Ruiz Jr we might see him taken the distance again, if he could stop Ruiz Jr something Joshua and Parker failed to do then I think his reputation as being the hardest puncher would be answered.
I think that comes down to Wilder's poor delivery of his power. It's the shots that you don't see coming that KO you as the eventual KO of Szpilka proved. But the previous right hands Szplika took he saw coming and so could brace for impact, fact is Wilder, telegraphs that right hand badly which is why he has often taken more rounds to stop guys like Molina, Szpilka, Duhaupas, Gavern etc that others have stopped quicker. He lands but his opponents see his punches coming. It's also why someone like Joyce seems to lack one shot power at times, he's so slow guys can see the punches coming and brace for impact, so despite his heavy hands he often takes a while to get to an opponent but once he lands a shot they don't see coming he flattens them like in the Kiladze KO.
