By Victor Salazar
Deontay Wilder (33-0, 32KOs) holds the only other title in the Heavyweight division that Wladimir Klitschko doesn’t hold. So that alone makes it an attractive fight. The fact that he’s just as tall and has power makes it all the more intriguing. Wilder was ringside as Klitschko defeated Bryant Jennings in Madison Square Garden. Wilder felt it was a competitive fight and feels his countrymen did well against Klitschko.
“I thought it was a great fight,” Wilder told BoxingScene.com “I kind of know who was going to win coming in. But being an American I had to root for my fellow countrymen in Bryant Jennings. It would be good to have seen another American Heavyweight Champion. He has nothing to hang his head low. He fought a great fight, there was two winners tonight, now everyone looking forward to Klitschko-Wilder.”
Wilder feels his length and height will by a dynamic that will make a fight with Klitschko totally different from the fight with Jennings.
“I’m a much taller guy with more hand speed,” Wilder said. “For me it’s going to be different because of my height. I can reach him he can reach me, it’s a lot of different things when he’s not fighting with smaller guys, and it’s just a matter of time.”
Klitschko has always seemed to wear down opponents with clinching and putting his weight on smaller opponents. Wilder feels that’s something Klitschko won’t be able to do against him.
“He won’t be able to do it with me being the taller guy,” explained Wilder. “He won’t be able to do it on a much taller guy. That’s one of the takeaways from this fight. Me being able to spar with him, I figured some things. It was great, we learned a lot about each other, that’s why it’ll be a great fight.”
Klitschko himself admits that his chin isn’t the best. Jennings landed some clean shots and Wilder wonders if there was the steam of his punches landing on Klitschko, how different the fight yesterday would have been.
“If he (Jennings) definitely had power, maybe it could have been different,” stated Wilder. “He landed some clean shots. If he had power, I have power, I have one of the best knockout ratio power in boxing, and so that’s another difference in this fight. Either way Jennings did well tonight.”
Either way, Wilder wants the fight and wants it to be big, even if he has to wait a while.
“I think Klitschko got a lot of mandatories lined up so we’ll see. We’re not rushing into that fight. Right now I have the WBC belt and everyone wants the WBC belt. We want it to be the best heavyweight fight of all time buildup.”
