The late well-known sports historian Bert Schug once said: "In professional boxing, the people who are always good at knocking out their opponents are the "real" fighters, and they are often very special ......"
When it comes to boxing heavyweights, it's easy to think of Mike Tyson, George Foreman, Ernie Shavos, and one person in today's professional boxing world who is also known for knockouts, and that is Deontay Wilder, known as the "Bronze Bomber".
The 38-year-old is in the throes of his career, having lost three of his last four fights, but Wilder's striking power is still evident, with his deadliest weapon being his right hand that can put his opponent to sleep in an instant.
Wilder has a staggering knockout rate of 97.6 percent, and he knocks out every opponent in front of him except for unwon fights, so where does Wilder's immense power come from?
01 Wilder's physique
In boxing fights, the power usually comes from the shoulders, legs, and is transmitted through the waist. Fighters tend to tense up before unleashing the fatal blow, and a lot of famous heavy gunners – Anthony Joshua, Francis Nganno, have thick thighs and bodybuilder-style upper bodies, so their strength makes sense. However, Wilder's situation is different, when you see him, it's hard to associate with bodybuilders, Wilder is even very thin, but in addition to possessing immense strength, he also has explosive power that is superior to Joshua and Nganno.
During the match, Wilder likes to walk around the ring and looks very light, which is still related to his physique, weight. Wilder weighed only 212 pounds in the fight against Tyson Fury, while Fury weighed a whopping 256 pounds, a difference of 44 pounds, but even so, Wild still knocked out Fury twice.
Wilder is tall and lanky, more like an NBA player, which in Samir Han's opinion is a standard athlete body type, and at the same time means that Wilder's genes give him great speed and strength. Wilder has such a physique that he doesn't need to add a lot of muscle in order to be strong, you know that in boxing, muscular people have strength, but people with thinner muscles tend to attack with great intensity, just like Alex Pereira in MMA, his muscles are not prominent, but he can kill with one blow.
02 Wild's power point
If you look closely at Wild's anatomy, it's a very specific thing. Wilder habitually retracts his arms and punches before knocking out his opponent to provide plenty of room for power. In addition to the shoulders and arms, Wilder's body stands out because of his muscular bulging back, so when you punch hard, the back transmits the torso rotation to the arms, and when you have the same back as Wilder, the torso-to-arm power will be huge.
Wilder can wreak havoc on the inside, but it's clear that he prefers to land from a distance, which is where Wilder's strength comes in, and he also likes to swing wildly to try to land, especially when attacking with a right hand, where Wilder's intention to knock out his opponent is more obvious.
Due to Wilder's physique, he needs to use levers to exert power, with the back muscles still being an effective point of force.
03 Wilder's weight
At 2.01 meters tall, Wilder is a tall fighter, but in terms of weight, he is on the underweight side. Wilder weighed only 207 pounds at his lightest, and he worked hard to become a welterweight fighter. Compared to Wilder, Fury weighs a minimum of 245 pounds and Joshua weighs 229 pounds, but is Wilder's strength inferior to Fury and Joshua?
As mentioned earlier, Wild has a standard athlete body type, which allows him to move faster than the average heavyweight, so weight is really a key factor, and the simple reason is that the lower the weight, the faster and more agile you will be.
Wilder gained a noticeable weight of 231 pounds and 237 pounds in his rematch and trilogy with Fury, which was thought to have affected his performance because he was too heavy to use his speed effectively to get his right hand flying.
Because of Wilder's lighter weight, he can move faster, and it's no coincidence that Wilder has defended the WBC heavyweight title 10 times in a row.