Trainer Jay Deas learned about Deontay Wilder's power the hard way
LAS VEGAS – The power is singular. But there’s no one way to describe Deontay Wilder’s power. Wilder trainer Jay Deas has felt it in multiple ways. It has doubled him over. It has forced him to seek medical attention often.
There’s no one fighter in history who has Wilder’s kind of power, Deas says.
But there are two.
“George Foreman, he hit like a Mack truck traveling at 35 miles per hour,’’ Deas said Friday before the weigh for the Wilder-Tyson Fury rematch on ESPN/Fox pay-per-view at the MGM Grand Saturday night. “Mike Tyson, he hit you and you don’t feel anything. You’re just on the floor.
“Deontay, he’s a little bit like both.’’
Deontay Wilder’s brutal knockout of Artur Szpilka in 2016 was so frightening it scared even him. AP Photo / Frank Franklin II
It’s right-handed power that has knocked out 41 of Wilder’s 43 opponents. Only Fury got up, not once, but twice in a draw 15 months ago that ended with him rising to his feet in a moment memorable enough to demand a rematch.
Wilder has promised to finish the job this time. But Deas concedes it won’t be easy. Head-hunting won’t work against the clever Fury, Deas said.
“If anybody is hard to hit in the head, it’s Fury,’’ Deas said. “That says you first have to go to the body. That goes to footwork and overall skill.’’
The looming question is whether Wilder has enough in his skill set to work inside in an attempt to rock the 6-foot-9 Fury’s long body. The body-punching tactic has mostly been ignored by today’s generation of heavyweights.
“They fight from the outside,’’ Gerry Cooney told Boxing Junkie. “These guys need to step inside and crack. They need to move in and target the body.’
It was a tactic effectively executed by Cooney in successive stoppages of Jimmy Young, Ron Lyle and Ken Norton in 1980 and 1981. In a 1982 shot at the world title, he lost to multi-skilled Larry Holmes, perhaps the most complete heavyweight champion in history.
“These guys don’t know how to fight on the inside,’’ Holmes told Boxing Junkie.
But Deas says they do. He has the injuries for proof.
“I can attest to the fact that Deontay can,’’ Deas said. “A torn cartilage from my rib cage is evidence that, yes, Deontay can hit to the body.’’
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