Deontay Wilder lands thunderous knockout blow to stop Gerald Washington

The Bronze Bomber retained his title in emphatic fashion on Saturday in Alabama

Deontay Wilder may not have looked himself for the first four rounds, but he proved all it takes is one punch from the heavyweight champ.

Wilder (38-0, 37 KOs) was tentative and immobile to start the fight, staying stagnant and allowing Gerald Washington (18-1-1) to keep the pressure on with his jab and counterpunches. But in just a flash, Wilder ended the fight with a flurry. Washington dropped like a sack of potatoes into the ring ropes and continued to fight for a short time before the ref finally called off the action.

After not doing much of anything in the first four rounds, Wilder opened up his stance a bit in the fifth. He was still being patient and waiting for his opportunity, and once it came, he would not let go. 

It took two punches to drop Washingto,n and once he was told by the ref to continue fighting, Wilder seemed to let out a bit of frustration from the first four rounds, throwing everything he had at Washington to make sure that was the end of the fight.

Though we didn’t really see The Bronze Bomber get tested too much, it was interesting to see him fight someone closer to his size. It might be a bit of a wakeup call for Wilder that he’s not going to just be bigger than every opponent he faces, especially if he gets a matchup with Anthony Joshua or Wladimir Klitschko in the future.

Meanwhile, Jarrett Hurd seemed to follow a similar trajectory to Wilder in his bout with Tony Harrison. Hurd looked sluggish in the opening rounds of his bout, while Harrison was putting on a clinic with his combinations. Although he was landing well, it was pretty clear Harrison wasn’t doing much damage. Once Hurd put the pressure on later in the fight, Harrison couldn’t keep up. Hurd landed a beautiful uppercut that dropped Harrison and made his head bounce off the canvas. 

#AndTheNew - After a slow start, a CRUSHING right hand from @Swift_JHurd wins him a 154-lb world title!! #HarrisonHurd #PBConFOX pic.twitter.com/GBQYD2Uc7R

— PBC (@premierboxing) February 26, 2017

Winner	Loser	Result
Deontay Wilder	Gerald Washington	Fifth-round TKO
Jarrett Hurd	Tony Harrison	Ninth-round TKO
Dominic Breazeale	Izuagbe Ugonoh	Fifth-round TKO

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