“Deontay Wilder’s ‘Bomb Squad’ Punch”
BoxingGlove Notes
Distinio Lois, Jr.
Heavyweight Champion Deontay “The Bronze Bomber” Wilder’s first visit to the Big Apple by way of the Barclays Center, Brooklyn , N.Y., was a spectacular knockout success defending his W.B.C. Heavyweight crown for the 3rd. time.
Lou DiBella’s Night of the Heavyweights Title Fights produced knockouts, but none as electrifying as Deontay Wilder’s one punch total destruction of Artur Szpilka at 2:24 of the 9th round.
I am getting ahead of my story of an event that occurred, on Saturday, January 16th 2016.
I’ll start off by saying that the Barclays Center, Brooklyn ,N.Y. thanks to promoters, Lou DiBella Entertainment, Warrior Boxing, & Sferis Knockout Promotions, made boxing history by promoting the first heavyweight title fight in Brooklyn in 115 years.
The fight program featured 9 exciting fights of different weight levels but the main attractions actually were the 6 heavyweights who dominated the event.
Adam “Baby Face” Kownaki, 252 pounds defeated Danny Kelly, 231 pounds by a unanimous decision in a center of the ring phone booth fistic war.
Both fighters apparently aware of the future ring rewards awaiting the winner, did not let up pounding each other from to round to round to the delight of the approximately 13,000 fans in attendance, which included, Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis, and Heavyweight Champ Tyson Fury.
Baby Face Kownaki started off very fast moving forward and scoring with very hard punishing head and body punches staggering Kelly who had to cover up rope-a-dope Mohammad Ali style, while landing only a few punches.
By the 3rd round it appeared that Kelly had figured out Kownaki’s battle plan and started counter punching effectively hurting Kownaki and forcing him to hold repeatedly in order to survive and avoid a loss by a knockout.
As this heavyweight war continued from round to round, Kownaki utilizing an effective body punishment, while avoiding Kelly’s head punches took total control of the fight as Kelly tired badly, and won the ten round decision by a score of, 89-72, 80-72,79-73 on the 3 Judge’s score cards. The winner Adam Kownaki will be rewarded with a title fight in the near future.
The semi-final fight, for the vacant I.B.F. Heavyweight Crown, between Charles “Prince” Martin, 22-0-1, 20 knockouts & Vyacheslav “Czar” Glazkov, 21-0-1, 13 k.o.’s, was a fight fan’s disappointment.
After a perhaps dull feeling-out first round by both, Prince Martin a south paw hit Glazkov in the 2nd round with a solid left hand punch, knocking him down, and as Glazkov tried to get up he injured his right knee.
Glazkov in severe pain tried to get up and continue to fight but when the referee saw that he was limping and in no condition to continue, he stopped the fight awarding the I.B.F. Heavyweight Title to a surprised but happy Martin. It was announced later in the evening that Glazkov had torn a ligament in his right knee.
The Polish fans while waiting for their hero Artur Szpilka from Poland, began to sing Polish songs and wave their country’s flag to the delight of the almost standing room only crowd who also were awaiting the entrance of Heavyweight Champion Deontay Wilder.
As Szpilka walked towards the ring the noise was deafening as they cheered for their favorite, while some booed when Wilder entered soon after.
The excited Wilder fans anticipating a fast and furious 1rst. round war or a knockout by him, were surprised to see after the first bell, a very smart and cagey Szpilka circle Wilder in a crouching south paw style throwing punches from all angles hitting him and then moving out of harm’s way when Wilder tried to hit back.
Trained by world famous trainer Ronnie Shields, Szpilka followed this plan of attack for many of the early rounds frustrating Wilder repeatedly and making him miss with his lethal punches round after round, although he did hit Szpilka hard sometimes but sporadically.
Deontay Wilder fought-my opinion-very amateurishly to the point of looking frustrated and desperate trying for a knockout, and I began to sense a possible upset.
By the end of the 8th round I actually had Szpilka ahead by 2 points as the 9th round began.
The 9th round was a repeat of the other rounds, Szpilka attacking Wilder smartly and avoiding his lethal punches.
Suddenly, with about a minute into the 9th round as Szpilka was about to throw a left hand, Wilder jabbed at him and threw a deadly pin point right hand punch almost like the American Sniper’s bullet, knocking him out.
Actually, Szpilka was already unconscious even before he hit the canvas with a scary thud.
When the referee started to count he stopped at 5 and as he waved the fight over, he summoned the ring Doctors to examine him.
When Szpilka was finally revived as a precaution Emergency Medical Technicians responded, placed a brace on his neck carried him onto a stretcher, and ambulanced Szpilka to the nearest hospital where he remained overnight after a thorough examination. Szpilka was released the next day.
A happy or perhaps relieved Wilder yelled to no one in particular, “I came here to delight the fans by scoring a knockout and I did it, so on to the next title fight. He was very tough and slippery but I finally got him”.
To Wilder’s surprise and delight of fans Heavyweight Champ Fury jumped into ring, removed his blazer and yelled at Wilder calling him a bum. “I am the real champ not you. Keep your gloves on I’ll fight you right now and knockout you out”, Tyson yelled further.
Security was called in the ring to escort Tyson out of the ring as he continued to taunt a smiling Wilder, who responded “anytime and anywhere, you’re the bum”.
It is a certainty that Fury and Wilder will fight sometime in the near future but at the present time they are contractually obligated to fight other opponents who by their rankings merit a title fight.
It was a good old fashion fight night enjoyed by all although some like the Szpilka fans were disappointed that their favorite lost. He assured them from his hospital bed that he was alright and will continue to fight to win a world title for them and Poland as he had promised.
EDITORIAL COMMENT:
To the delight of the pro heavyweight fight fans, in addition to Fury, Wilder, and Klitschko, a growing list of promising heavyweights have suddenly emerged that for certain will challenge the above mentioned top 3 keeping them busy for many years to come.
Some of the current outstanding heavyweight contenders with an international flavor are:
1) Luis “The Real King Kong” Ortiz-Cuba, 24-0, 21 knockouts 2) Prince Charles Martin-California, 22-0-1, 20 knockouts-current I.B.F. Heavyweight Champ 3) Anthony Joshua-United Kingdom, 15-0, 15 k.o.’s 4) Ruslan Chagaev-Uzbekistan, 34-2-1, 21 knockouts 5) Bermaine Stiverne –Haiti, 24-2-1, 21 k.o,.’s 6) Alexander Povetkin-Russia, 30-1, 22 knockouts 7) Kubrat Pulev-Bulgaria, 22-1, 12 k.o.’s 8) Bryant “By-By” Jennings-Philadelphia, 19-2, 10 knockouts
