Deontay Wilder stepped inside the boxing ring with a statement that should he end on the losing side against Zhilei Zhang, he would call retirement on his boxing career. And that’s what happened as Wilder dropped a KO loss in the fifth round in the main event of an amazing night of boxing at the Riyadh Season.
True to his style, Deontay Wilder’s game plan was straightforward. He allowed himself to be pressured, strategically waiting for the right moment to counter with his powerful right hand. However, in this match, he struggled to find the range against a patient and composed Zhilei Zhang, setting the stage for an intriguing fight.
Nothing significant happened in the first round, but Wilder landed a good right hand to the body to start the second. However, Zhang retaliated a second later, pressuring Wilder on the post and landing some powerful shots on both the body and the high guard of Wilder, who looked clueless in those exchanges.
Zhang landed a nice right hand in the closing moments of the second round, giving no room for Wilder to land his vicious right hand.
Wilder started the third round with a jab to the body, but looked gun-shy against an advancing Zhang, who now looked least bothered by Wilder’s power.
Deontay Wilder almost put to sleep by Zhilei Zhang
Zhang landed a right hand of his own with a minute to go in the third round, and followed it up with a couple of jabs to end the round in his favour. The fourth round started with Wilder landing a good jab to the body, followed by a powerful right moments later. However, the rest of the round saw Wilder trying to run away from Zhang, and ironically a bit scared of Zhang’s power. Be that as it may, the Chinese boxer made very little use of Wilder’s reluctance.
In the fifth round, Wilder once again started with a jab to the body and followed it up with a vicious right that almost wobbled Zhang on the backfoot, but what happened moments later was a crisp left hook from Zhang which stunned Wilder and a right hand that put dropped him on the canvas.
“I’m fine, I’m fine” Wilder said, as the referee raised his hands to call the fight in the favour of Zhang.
“I block a few punches, but yeah, he punches hard. I give him my respect, he is a hard puncher.” Zhang said after the fight.
Immediately after the fight, boxing fans took to X to social media to urge Deontay Wilder after back to back setbacks inside the ring. Moreover, with how he looked tonight, and the KO loss that followed, fans are almost convinced Wilder is “washed.”
Needless to say, one thing is for sure: we may never see Anthony Joshua vs. Deontay Wilder. While the Bronze Bomber did not get to talk after the fight, fans are of the assumption and rightfully so, that it was the last we saw of Wilder inside the boxing ring.
And if indeed this was the last of Wilder, it was an incredible career to say nonetheless, that saw the Bronze Bomber compete against some of the greatest boxers of all time.