In a fight that was only made because of Alexander Povetkin’s failed drug test, WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (37-0, 36 KOs) took care of the hopelessly overmatched Chris Arreola (36-5-1 NC, 31 KOs) in Saturday’s PBC on FOX main event, in front of about 12,000 at Legacy Arena in Wilder’s hometown of Birmingham, Alabama.
The fight didn’t look competitive on paper, and it wasn’t competitive when played out, and perhaps the big reason it dragged on for 8 rounds was Wilder’s post-fight admittance that he broke his powerful right hand and tore his right bicep. As a result, Wilder was reduced to jabbing Arreola’s face off with ridiculous ease, with Arreola’s attacks proving to be relatively harmless and lacking any fight-changing threat to them.
Rounds 1-3 weren’t particularly noteworthy, with Arreola throwing only 23 total punches through the first 6 minutes. Wilder scored the bout’s only knockdown in round 4, as a combination put Arreola off balance and on the deck. Deontay went for the finish, and while Arreola was on wobbly legs, he barely saw out the round. The rest of the fight was a copy-and-paste of Arreola trying his best to string together meaningful offense while Wilder used his left hand to batter Arreola to the point where his left eye was swollen shut. At the end of round 8, Arreola’s trainer stopped the fight, clinching a win for Wilder, whose right arm also sported a weird scrape/wound that FOX announcer Brian Kenny relayed was “a yard work accident.” Consider me skeptical of that story, but that’s best left for another day.
We learned nothing new about Wilder beyond his toughness to fight through serious pain. This was mostly a waste of time and unfortunately it looks like we won’t be seeing Wilder for several months based on the injuries he suffered.
Highlights of the fight can be viewed at the top of the page.
On another note, former flyweight and super flyweight champion Vic Darchinyan (42-9-1, 31 KOs) got knocked out again on the FS1 broadcast, this time by Sergio Frias (18-6-2, 9 KOs). He’s shot to pieces and justifying TV time for him is impossible given the number of beatings he’s received. I don’t remember if he’s still with Glendale Fight Club, but if he is, chalk up another L for that camp. The KO can be seen at about 6:16 of the video.
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