Deontay Wilder responds to critics following win over Luis Ortiz

Reigning WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder is among the best in the boxing world — even MMA stars like Jon Jones and Rampage Jackson have taken notice of his incredible punching power — but the “Bronze Bomber” still has critics.

Following his win over Luis Ortiz, the talk wasn’t just about how Wilder has some of the best punching power the boxing world has ever seen, but the criticism was that he didn’t look technical in the fight, and if he fought that way against Tyson Fury, Wilder would lose.

While the Vegas odds have Fury as their early favorite in their rematch, and Fury says Wilder has nothing more than a “puncher’s chance”, the current heavyweight champion is seemingly paying no mind to criticism.

During an interview with MMA Tonight on Sirius XM, Wilder discussed his slow start against Ortiz and broke down how he sees fights play out for himself in the ring.

🔊 "I'm strategically moving & my intellect in this ring is very, very high." – @BronzeBomber discusses his power, skill, and how he set up the knockout this past weekend against Luis Ortiz w/@RJcliffordMMA & @lionheartasmith #WilderOrtiz2 🥊🎙️🥊🎙️🥊🎙️ pic.twitter.com/SYS6HuSzzf

— MMA on SiriusXM (@MMAonSiriusXM) November 27, 2019

“You got to have practice, you got to have skill, and you got to know when the right perfect time to use it,” Wilder said. “With my opponents I get in the ring with, it’s all about that, the calculating, the timing, setting up, everything that it does for me becomes a muscle memory. Although I start off slow in rounds, I’m well alert. I’m ready for anything that comes my way. I’m trying to see whatever reaction I have to my action.”

“I know that being in there with Ortiz the first time, I know that he’s a great counter-puncher so he’s going to react very fast to what I do. So with him I had to time it more. All in all, if you go back to the 7th round, the last couple of seconds, that’s when I really came out with my masterpiece. I blinded him, I mesmerized him with four jabs in his face and came around, I took a step to my left which was to his right, I came up with the fake jab and came right down the middle with the right hand, it was perfect. I knew the angle was perfect cause I started to feel it as the rounds came down.”

As the critics were calling for more action out of Wilder throughout the earlier stages of the fight, Wilder tells people not to blink for a reason, not just because of his power, but because he is setting up the big shots throughout the earlier rounds of the fight.

“That’s why I tell people do not blink when it comes to me cause I’m calculating everything, I’m strategically moving, and my intellect in this ring is very, very high although people don’t understand it. But my favorite saying is, what’s understood don’t have to be explained.”

Do you think Deontay Wilder is the best heavyweight boxer in the world today?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 11/28/2019.