Deontay Wilder has built a name and a fortune by leaving Heavyweight fighters flat out at his feet.
‘The Bronze Bomber’ is perhaps the most ferocious puncher in the heavyweight division, using his remarkable power to overcome his relative inexperience in ring-craft having only taken up the sport of boxing aged 20.
Of the 39 men to have stepped into the ring in a professional setting with Wilder before tonight’s encounter with the Englishman Tyson Fury, only one had made it long enough to hear the final bell.
Bermane Stiverne met with his comeuppance in the end, too, when he was savagely knocked out by Wilder when the pair met for a rematch.
While Fury will perhaps be aggrieved not to have taken the fight on the judges scorecards as even the most partisan American fan could see that the British challenger had outpointed his rival, he showed admirable heart to survive the force of the Alabama man’s blows.
He becomes only the second to achieve that feat, but it could have been different.
In the final round Wilder socked Fury with a stinging right-left combination that sent him flying backwards, smacking his head off the canvas.
Surely thinking his eighth successful defence of his WBC strap was secure, Wilder began to celebrate in the ring.
But the jiving puncher looked stunned to glance back across the right at the spot where he’d dropped Fury to see the ‘Gypsy King’ getting back to his feet.
Take a look at this.