Szpilka defeated by Wilder in WBC championship fight
Poland's Artur Szpilka was defeated by Deontay Wilder in the 9th round of the WBC heavyweight world championship. The American heavyweight world champion defended his WBC title at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York on Saturday.
In spite of his ambitious attitude, Szpilka did not manage to win the WBC heavyweight championship belt as the first Pole in history (before him Poland's Andrzej Golota also tried to win the title). In the 9th round, Wilder hit Szpilka with a powerful right-hand to the chin and left him out cold and flat on his back for several minutes. It was a hard knockout.
Born in Wieliczka (southern Poland) and living in the USA for almost a year, Szpilka did well in his confrontation with Wilder despite his defeat. Out of his 35 professional fights, Wilder won 34 of them before time, mostly in the first rounds. The Polish boxer was realizing his tactical plan with determination – he was very active, moved a lot, balanced his body, often tried to go on the offensive and the world champion could not find a way to knock him out. "It was harder to punch him than I thought", said Wilder after his 36th win (36-0).
Fighting from a southpaw stance, left-handed Szpilka (20-2) found it hard to reach the opponent because of Wilder's long arms. He tried to seize his chance by throwing single punches. Eventually Szpilka got a tough right-hand to the chin with 2:24 left in the 9th round.
Unconscious for several minutes, Szpilka was taken to hospital. He wrote a short message on one of social media websites saying "I'm all right. I'm sorry I disappointed you."
During the fight, former heavyweight champions Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis were sitting ringside. But it was Tyson Fury who stormed into the ring and challenged Wilder to a fight. A month and a half ago Fury stripped Vladimir Klitschko of his championship belt. "You can run around like you're a preacher all you want but you step in the ring, I promise you I will baptize you," Wilder said, as the crowd roared.
However it will not happen in the next months as both of them have different plans - Wilder is going to confront a Russian Alexander Povetkin and Fury will be having a rematch with the younger of Klitschko brothers.
Also fighting at the Barclays Center were Maciej Sulecki (middleweight) and Adam Kownacki (heavyweight). Sulecki defeated Derrick Findley in the 7th round and Kownacki beat an American Danny Kelly.
Charles Martin won the vacant IBF world heavyweight championship in an underwhelming bout against injured Vyacheslav Glazkov in the co-main event. (PAP)
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