Biggest puncher of them all? Deontay Wilder's frightening power is unmatched

The history books are going to be kind — very kind — when Deontay Wilder finally decides to hang up his gloves and await the countdown to his induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

For much of his career, we’ve heard about what he can’t do, or that we shouldn’t believe what we see. People carped about his boxing ability and criticized his opposition, and even as he was scoring knockouts at a record place, far too many pointed to fighters of the past and said he wouldn’t have KO’d them.

It’s all nonsense.

Wilder is not only one of the greatest punchers in boxing history, he’s going to be remembered as one of the greatest heavyweights, period. He is among the most exciting fighters of his era and he still has years to go.

On Saturday, he finished Robert Helenius in a frightful manner to score his 42nd knockout in 46 professional fights. Wilder landed a right hand to the nose that he didn’t even step into. It didn’t travel more than 2 feet.

Whatever he didn’t do, we saw the frightening result the punch caused. Helenius went down like he was hit by a cannonball and didn’t move for a long time.

Wilder is 0-2-1 against Tyson Fury and is 43-0 with 42 KOs against everyone else. In those three Fury fights, the third was an all-time classic and the first was outstanding. And Wilder put Fury down four times across the three bouts.

It’s hard to rate punchers across generations, but Wilder has fought huge men, quick men, athletic men, and every one of them has befallen the same fate: They hit the canvas hard and there were many times when there was legitimate concern for their well-being.

I think back to some of the great punchers in heavyweight history and it’s hard to think that Wilder doesn’t belong in their company. George Foreman was a massive man with immense strength, but he didn’t have Wilder's speed.

Mike Tyson brutalized a lot of opponents, but did he ever put someone away the way Wilder did Helenius on Saturday?

Muhammad Ali once said that the late Earnie Shavers “hit me so hard, it shook my kinfolk in Africa.”

There are others: Rocky Marciano rarely fought much higher than 190, but he was a powerful puncher and brutalized guys to the body. Could he have floored a 6-foot-9, 270-pound quality boxer like Fury the way Wilder did? I’m not so sure.

I saw fight in my lifetime Shavers, Tyson, Foreman, Vitali Klitchko, Wladimir Klitschko, Joe Frazier, Evander Holyfield, David Tua, Ike Ibeabuchi and Lennox Lewis. I can’t say that a single one of them hit as hard as Wilder.

It’s impossible to prove, but watching Wilder has made me a believer. He can put someone to sleep with one punch in either hand, which few fighters in any weight class in history could do, and if he landed a combination on the chin, it was almost always time to call it a day.

Wilder’s technique was unusual and he isn’t a classic boxer. Who cares? He makes the most out of what he has, which is vicious, frightening power.

Ali fought the likes of Sonny Liston, Foreman, Shavers and Frazier, and was never counted out, so it makes one wonder if Wilder could have done it. Ali was a superb boxer, but he was also far too brave for his own good.

Especially after his return from exile, Ali wasn’t as quick and his lateral movement was reduced. So he’d fight flat-footed and would often take punches to create openings and land his own. It’s hard to imagine Ali taking one of those shots that Wilder hit Fury with last year and being able to still fight on.

My opinion — and it’s clearly open for debate — is that while Sugar Ray Robinson, not Ali, is the greatest boxer who ever lived, the version of Ali who fought Zora Folley in 1967 was, for one night, the most perfect fighting machine to ever step into the ring.

Had Wilder stepped into the ring in 1967 instead of Folley to face that version of Ali, Wilder’s speed would have made him a problem for Ali.

He’s not the best heavyweight who ever lived but he would never have been out of a fight against any heavyweight who ever lived. Lewis, who called Wilder’s fight from ringside, was a better overall boxer than Wilder, but if Lewis had a weakness, it was his chin. If Hasim Rahman knocked Lewis out with one punch, I know damn well sure that Wilder could have.

Before you spit up the Cheerios and start screaming at your computer or phone, let me repeat: Wilder isn’t the best heavyweight who ever lived.

He is, though, the biggest puncher who ever stepped into a boxing ring as well as one of the most exciting.

When he’s inducted into the Hall of Fame when he becomes eligible, two words other than his first and last name are guaranteed to be on his plaque: Incredible power.