Deontay Wilder retains WBC heavyweight title

Deontay Wilder retained his WBC world heavyweight title with a fifth-round stoppage of Gerald Washington. His knockout power is very real and has translated well as he’s taken steps up in competition. Washington’s reach and height are only one inch less than Wilder’s, so he won’t be at a complete disadvantage, languishing at a distance and eating shots. I wish I could say that Wilder fought poorly on goal, but I can’t.

Maybe luring Washington into a false sense of security, Wilder’s bombs had an instant impact with nearly the first right hand that landed flush. Washington went from being aggressive to that of a timid challenger.

Washington established his jab in the opening round and was causing Wilder some problems early on. Then in the fourth, he caught Wilder with a solid left that seemed to wake up the champ, who delivered a thundering left-right combination to the body of the former Navy helicopter mechanic late in the round.

Washington was still on his feet but was staggering and using the ropes for support as the raucous pro-Wilder crowd of 12,346 cheered and began singing loudly along with the public address system’s playing of “Sweet Home Alabama“. In this twelve round battle, Wilder has a tough opponent in Gerald Washington a challenger ready to prove his worth. Washington was lucky the referee stopped the fight, because Wilder surely would have knocked him out in the clinical fashion if the fight was allowed to play out to the logical conclusion.

Last year, Wilder, 31, broke his right hand and tore his right biceps in a knockout win over Chris Arreola, a replacement after Alexander Povetkin’s disqualification for testing positive for meldonium. Hurd landed a handsome uppercut that dropped Harrison and made his head bounce off the canvas.

Fa knocked Barr down three times before the referee stopped the fight. Harrison is now 24-2. Hurd kept up the pressure in the third round but Harrison landed several good counters and check left hooks.

Hurd defeated Tony Harrison after recovering from a slow start.

In another barnstormer, Dominic Breazeale traded knockdowns with Izu Ugonoh in one of the best heavyweight battles of the year so far. Ugonoh came back in the round to stagger and hurt Breazeale. Ugonoh looked more exhausted than anything.