America’s next hope: Deontay Wilder
Photo Credit: Jennifer Halger/DiBella Entertainment/
Premier Boxing Champions
Despite a bunch of naysayers who live at their parents’ house, and/or the internet, WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder once again put on a show by stopping Chris Arreola in an action-packed event in his hometown of Alabama in front of 11,974 people. The bout which aired national on Fox was not all smooth sailing for the heavyweight as he explained the injury he suffered in the post-fight press conference.
“It was early – the third or the fourth round. It was from an (awkward) punch. I hurt the hand first, and then the bicep….look at my hand, this thing hurts.”
Wilder motioned to the press afterwards his hand which showed a graphic image that made the mostly out of shape media in attendance grimace knowing that they wouldn’t push through a 1/3 of the pain Wilder did in this bout.
Wilder, fought an outgunned foe with a broken right hand and a torn right bicep and didn’t stop throwing it ever.
Watching this from a living room in Iceland on vacation at about 2AM local time made me really think deeply about Wilder. Why is it so many hate this man? The man basically made me give up a night of going out on the town, because I realize at this heightened age, you only get to see the stars so many times in life and for me Wilder has emerged as such.
I get it some media are literally paid by promoters as on-air personalities while having large platforms to voice their opinions, I understand their distain for Wilder, he is their rival in terms of promotion. It is business and political and I am fine with it, but why does it seem like internet “smart boxing fan” is unsure to get behind Wilder?
I think it has something to do with no other sport in the world do you have to always be right and seemingly your knowledge is not based around what you know, but rather can you pick a fight right consistently. I have seen this logic as flawed as do most reasonable people, but that doesn’t stop it’s influence of the “You’re an idiot, because you picked the fight wrong, so let’s belittle you” logic. People hate being wrong and a group of people wanted Wilder not to be good and refuse to give him credit for anything since it would mean they’re not as good at assessing talent.
Wilder to me is special, because when he fights I want to tune-in. He is flawed, he looks every bit of coming to the sport late in life, but that is a charm I don’t mind as it makes all of his bouts, more entertaining than they potentially should be, making him a fan friendly. Wilder is a large personality with a nearly perfect KO record and on top of that, he is American.
I think this quote from Wilder sums up why he is so captivating. After dawning a social media campaign at the weigh-in that essentially said that he valued Arreola’s life, after battle you can hear his passion for winning when giving this retort, candidly.
“It was very satisfying to punish a guy like Chris Arreola. I straight punished him. I didn’t get my knockout like I want, but it was a knockout. I’ll take that on my record. I still advanced to 37-0 with 36 KOs.’’
