Deontay Wilder violently knocks out Artur Szpilka with vicious right hand
The right hand that Deontay Wilder knocked Artur Szpilka out with on Saturday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn to retain the WBC title is the very reason that boxing fans for years have loved the heavyweight division, despite its long periods of ineptitude.
When heavyweights are in the ring, any fight can end at any time and Wilder showed that on Saturday.
Wilder was leading on all three scorecards, 78-74, 77-75 and 78-74, after eight rounds, but it was a ho-hum fight against a lightly regarded opponent. But as the ninth wore down, Szpilka attacked. He came toward Wilder and threw a roundhouse left hand.
Before it could find its mark, Wilder ripped him on the chin with a perfectly placed right hand. Szpilka went down hard on his back and didn't move for several minutes.
Szpilka's neck was immobilized and he was removed from the ring on a stretcher and taken to a local hospital for observation. Dr. Jeffrey Kaplan told Showtime's Jim Gray that it was for precautionary reasons and he thought Szpilka would be fine. Szpilka was talking and moving all extremities.
That kind of devastating puncher power is why fans are always so eager to see the heavyweights in action. Earlier in the night, Charles Martin won the vacant IBF heavyweight title from Vyacheslav "Czar" Glazkov with a third-round stoppage in a desultory match. After two rounds of little happening, Martin threw a left that Glazkov blocked.
However, Glazkov's right knee gave out and he went down. He told the referee he couldn't continue and Martin claimed a belt that had been stripped from Tyson Fury essentially without landing a shot.
But Wilder, who is now 36-0 with 35 knockouts, sure did land a big one.
"He was more crafty and slick than we thought," Wilder said. "But this is boxing and we got 12 rounds."
At that point, Fury entered the ring and got into Wilder's face. Fury won the WBA, WBO and IBF belts from Wladimir Klitschko in November, though he was stripped by the IBF for agreeing to give Klitschko a rematch.
Fury got into Wilder's face and sang, "There's only one Tyson Fury!" to the tune of the song "Winter Wonderland." They both shouted at each other and each man said he'd be willing to fight on the opponent's home turf.
It's unlikely they'll meet soon, though. Wilder must make a mandatory defense against Alexander Povetkin, who was also at ringside but who didn't get into the ring, while Fury will face Klitschko.
It brought a little excitement to a division that for years has been devoid of it. But Fury's WWE-style antics aside, what made the biggest noise was the Wilder right hand.
He has a long way to go, given that he only took up boxing 10 years ago, but with power like that, he'll continue to bring the fans out to watch.
