Deontay Wilder on Life as the Heavyweight World Champion

Dec 14, 2016

31 year old Deontay Wilder will tell you since becoming the WBC Heavyweight title holder in 2015 he has learned to be thankful for the little things in life. Wilder became the first American World Heavyweight Champion in 9 years, which was the longest period of time in boxing history without an American heavyweight champion. As an amateur he won a bronze medal in the heavyweight division at the 2008 Olympics. This led to his nickname of "The Bronze Bomber", which Wilder coined after Joe Louis, who was also from Alabama and was known by the nickname of "The Brown Bomber".

Wilder is undefeated as a professional with a 97.2% knockout-to-win ratio, with 18 knockouts in the first round. As of July 2016, Wilder is ranked the world's third best heavyweight by The Ring magazine and BoxRec, and fourth by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board.

Wilder’s boxing career started when his now 12 year old daughter was born with Spina Bifida.  Wilder decided to drop out of college and look for a way to raise money to take care of his daughter.  That drive led to his undefeated career.