Deontay Wilder

Deontay Wilder

Deontay Leshun Wilder is an American professional boxer. He held the WBC heavyweight title from 2015 to February 2020. As an amateur, he won a bronze medal in the heavyweight division at the 2008 Olympics. His nickname is ‘The Bronze Bomber’, which Wilder coined after Joe Louis, who was known by the nickname of ‘The Brown Bomber’

About Deontay Wilder in brief

Summary Deontay WilderDeontay Leshun Wilder is an American professional boxer. He held the WBC heavyweight title from 2015 to February 2020. As an amateur, he won a bronze medal in the heavyweight division at the 2008 Olympics. As of November 2020, he is ranked as the world’s second-best active heavyweight by BoxRec, third by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and by The Ring magazine. He is particularly known for his formidable punching power, having knocked out every opponent he has defeated. His knockout-to-win percentage stands at 98%, with 20 knockouts in the first round. Wilder made his professional debut at the age of 23 on November 15, 2008, at the Vanderbilt University Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville, Tennessee. He won his first title in professional boxing when he knocked out 37-year-old Kelvin Price at the Memorial Sports Arena in Los Angeles, on December 15, 2012. On April 3, 2013, Golden Boy Promotions announced that Wilder would fight former European heavyweight champion and 2000 Olympic gold medalist Audley Harrison at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield. The fight was originally slated to take place in August 2012, but was rescheduled for April 27, 2013. Harrison stated that he would retire if he lost to Wilder in round one, but Wilder found an opening 49 seconds into the opening round and crumpled onto the floor to get to his feet. He then knocked out Harrison in the second round, ending the bout on a barrage of punches from Wilder.

The bout was shown live on Showtime in USA, which was headlined by Amir Khan’s return in UK against Julio Díaz. He went on to win the vacant WBC Continental Americas heavyweight title, which he went on on to successfully defend twice. He also won the WBA heavyweight title and the WBO light heavyweight title in 2013 and 2014. He was the first American world heavyweight champion in nine years, which is the longest period of time in boxing history without an American heavyweight champion. His nickname is ‘The Bronze Bomber’, which Wilder coined after Joe Louis, who was known by the nickname of ‘The Brown Bomber’ Wilder won the U.S. Olympic trials in only 21 bouts and had an approximate amateur record of 30–5. He beat Deivis Julio 6:5 Jorge Quinones from Ecuador on double countback and Brazilian Rafael Lima 6: 5 at the qualifier. He defeated Abdelaziz Touilbini of Algeria and Mohamed Arjaoui of Morocco before losing to Clemente Russo of Italy in the semi-final to earn a bronze medals. Wilders is a two-time winner of the Premier Boxing Champions Knockout of the Year award, in 2016 and 2017, and the winner of Ring magazine Knockout Of The Year award in 2019. He has a career-best win by edging out world championship silver medalist and future Olympic champion Rakhim Chakhiyev in Russia. His most recent win was a second-round technical knockout of Ethan Cox in October 2012.