Deontay Wilder is putting his belt on the line once again.
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Charles Martin remained undefeated and won the vacant IBF world heavyweight championship in an underwhelming bout against injured Vyacheslav Glazkov on Saturday night at the Barclays Center. Tyson Fury may not be quite all that, but he did dominate Wladimir Klitschko in November in Germany, taking Klitschko’s three championship belts. If you’re not able to watch the fight on Showtime (10 p.m. ET), or even if you are, tune to USA TODAY Sports Boxing Junkie to follow the fight with a live round-by-round recap. Unless the plan was for Wilder to put on a one-man extravaganza, it seemed pointless to announce a fight that was non-existent. Even so, Deontay Wilder is the only contender, who is talking about bringing the broken home of the Heavyweight Division back together, IBF included, and that counts for something whether he’s silenced his critics or not. But it’s going to be hard getting there fighting the likes of Szpilka, who just this past April fought some dude named Ty Cobb. Now aspiring stars like Wilder, Ortiz, Britain’s Anthony Joshua and New Zealand’s Joseph Parker see possibilities for them to ascend to the top without the roadblock at the top once presented by Dr. Steelhammer.
“I want to be the first Polish heavyweight champion of the world”, said Szpilka, who is 20-1 with 15 knockouts.
“I slipped and felt a sharp pain in my knee”, Glazkov said.
Boxing legends Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis were among celebrities on hand to take in the fight. I’m sick and exhausted of interim, regular, there’s too many belts going on.
It took longer than many expected, but Deontay Wilder showed the knockout power he has become known for on Saturday. I think he’ll look comfortable it’s just if he wants to look that good. However, not all was lost in those two defenses which gave Wilder some much-needed rounds, the fights we’re fan-friendly, and helped build up his hometown base. “I know it and I believe it”. Punching power will be in favor of Wilder as well but that’s not to say skill won’t play a major part. “That makes you look worse”, Wilder said of Fury’s comment. But Szpilka was not landing much of anything himself. This fact makes Wilder’s blustering more tiresome by the minute.
Wilder’s best chance of winning will be with a knockout. In fact the only category that is a wash between them is their ability to defend and get out of the way of punches thrown by fighters who aren’t the most imaginative offensively.
While a rematch between Fury and Klitschko awaits, Deontay Wilder has wasted little time in underlining his intention to silence the new champion. Glazkov only has thirteen stoppage victories, and only two of his past five victories did not go to the scorecards.
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Vyacheslav Glazkov, of Ukraine, center, gets up as Charles Martin, left, walks away during the third round of a IBF heavyweight title boxing match Saturday, Jan. 16, 2016, in NY.
