Boxing
Deontay Wilder: With my power I'm not worried about winning rounds
LAS VEGAS — In Deontay Wilder’s world, there is no use for the judges when he is in the boxing ring. And he proved that yet again on Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena when he kept the judges from having a role in deciding his fight as he scored a scintillating one-punch knockout of Luis Ortiz in the seventh round to retain his WBC heavyweight title.
Prior to the thunderous right hand that rendered the scorecards moot, the 34-year-old had done next to nothing for six and a half rounds of boxing. He was down on every scorecard heading into the seventh round, but it just didn’t matter.
Ortiz fought as perfect of a fight as one could put together in his rematch with Wilder. It was a return bout after Ortiz was stopped by Wilder in the 10th round back in 2018. In that fight, Ortiz had Wilder badly hurt in the seventh but was unable to close the show. The Bronze Bomber roared back in the 10th round, dropping his Cuban counterpart twice on his way to a TKO stoppage.
This time around, Ortiz fought a careful fight where he racked up rounds by using impressive footwork to stay out of danger while scoring early and often with body shots and a left hook. But it all changed when a right hand split Ortiz’s guard and sent him to the canvas, where he would be counted out by referee Kenny Bayless.
“To be honest, I never worry about if I’m losing the fight or not,” Wilder said at the post-fight press conference. “I’ve been blessed with something these other guys haven’t been blessed with, and that’s tremendous power. I know that when I hit guys, it hurts them. When you have power like I have, you’re not worried about whether you’re winning rounds or not.”
It also lends credence to Wilder’s motto that his opponents need to be perfect in order to beat him. Wilder doesn’t have that same kind of pressure.
“I’ve said it so often,” he said. “These guys I’m fighting, they have to be perfect for 12 rounds, but I only have to be perfect for two seconds.”
It was Wilder’s 41st knockout in 43 fights. Outside of Tyson Fury, who shockingly survived ninth-round and 12th-round knockdowns and managed a draw, nobody has avoided being knocked out by Wilder.
He’s relied solely on his power to win fights, and that continues to be the winning formula. Wilder sees no reason to change his approach anytime soon.
“I am the most devastating knockout artist in the heavyweight division by far,” Wilder proclaimed. “When you’re fighting me, you have to be careful.”
