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WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder is a much tougher man than most.

Wilder improved to 37-0 (36 KOs) with a TKO victory over Chris Arreola, who retired after the eighth round from an accumulation of damage. Wilder put Arreola down in the fourth round with a flurry of punches, and nearly ended the fight before Arreola was saved by the bell while on the ropes taking serious damage.

Somewhere in that flurry, Wilder appeared to injure his right hand and arm, as he threw almost exclusively left jabs and hooks for the final four rounds of the fight before it was stopped. After the fight, Wilder and doctors confirmed that he had indeed broken his right hand and torn his right biceps.

When asked when the injuries occurred, Wilder said they happened in succession at some point in the third or fourth round with the hand proceeding the biceps injury.

"It was early - the third or the fourth round," said Wilder. "It was from an (awkward) punch. I hurt the hand first, and then the bicep."

The injury didn't put a damper on Wilder's spirits in his in-ring post-fight interview as he pumped up the crowd and called out any of the other heavyweight titleholders for a future bout. Wilder was forced to skip his full post-fight press conference and went to a nearby hospital for treatment.

Wilder's injuries make his immediate future unknown as he will have to rest and rehab his injuries before he can ink a deal for his next bout, and will have to take more time off than he normally likes -- Wilder likes to fight three times a year -- between fights. However, he still has the same goal for the long-term future: unify the heavyweight titles.

That would mean future bouts with British sensation Anthony Joshua -- the IBF titleholder -- and the winner of the upcoming bout between Tyson Fury and Wladimir Klitschko. Wilder's interest in taking big fights seems genuine -- he was prepared to fight Povetkin in Russia -- but the bigger question is how willing the other titleholders will be to facing him, as he's shown that he's more than a one-trick pony in recent bouts.

Wilder's injury forced him to lean more on technical skill than raw power, and he still dominated Arreola with one hand. His power is unquestionable and his skills seem to be catching up with his power. That makes him a very scary proposition, and as we know all to well in boxing, champions tend to avoid those kinds of risks. Let's hope that's not the case in the heavyweight division once Wilder comes back from injury.