NO. 4 DEONTAY WILDER
Years active: 2008-active
Record: 42-0-1
KOs: 41
KO percentage (of wins): 98
KOs inside 3 rounds: 30
Notable KO victims: Chris Arreola, Dominic Breazeale, Luis Ortiz (twice), Malik Scott, Bermane Stiverne
Background: One remarkable aspect of Wilder’s punching power is his frame. “The Bronze Bomber” is tall – 6 feet, 7 inches – but he’s relatively slight, generally fighting in the 220s. He has the body of a long cruiserweight, if you will. Still, his punching power is tremendous. His horrific one-punch knockout of Dominic Breazeale last May left no doubt about his ability to turn out the lights at any moment. The same can be said of his most-recent fight, on Nov. 23, when he stopped Luis Ortiz a second time with one mammoth right. Chris Arreola, who Wilder stopped in eight rounds, said Wilder’s punch is “like a whip.” Malik Scott, who lasted only 96 seconds against Wilder, said unusual speed is a key element in Wilder’s power. He was asked by FightHype.com where Wilder’s power ranks among his opponents. “It’s in the top three. The other two are Lennox Lewis and Wladimir Klitschko. But who gets there faster with the power is Deontay out of anybody I ever been in with. He gets there fast. You got (a) different kind of power. You got George Foreman type of power.” Retired heavyweight Richard Towers reportedly has sparred with many top heavyweights, including Anthony Joshua, the Klitsckos, Tyson Fury and Wilder. He recently told The Sun: “I’ve sparred with every heavyweight you could think of, except Joseph Parker. And I know when it comes to power, Deontay Wilder is in a league of his own. Put it this way: He hits four times harder than Vitali Klitschko, he hits five times harder than Wladimir Klitschko, he hits six times harder than Anthony Joshua, and he hits eight times harder than Tyson Fury.” That might be an exaggeration but you get the idea.
More quotes: Murat Gassiev, who has sparred with Wilder and Wladimir Klitschko, told BoxingScene.com: “I think that Wilder’s punches are harder. His punches are hard, sharp and dangerous. I’ve had sparring sessions with many heavyweight fighters and I can say he has the hardest punch of them all.” … Tyson Fury, who went down hard in the final round against Wilder, told The Express: “That was the type of punch that sometimes people won’t wake up from.”