WATCH: Deontay Wilder flattens Artur Szpilka, exchanges war of words with Tyson Fury

Deontay Wilder didn’t dominate Artur Szpilka in Saturday night’s main event, but the WBC heavyweight champion put his opponent away with what will likely hold up as one of the best KOs of 2016.

With Wladimir Klitschko no longer the #1 heavyweight in the world after Tyson Fury’s upset win over him last year, boxing’s heavyweight division suddenly looks wide open and, well, almost interesting! Last night’s Showtime Championship Boxing card from Brooklyn’s Barclays Center provided us with what is almost surely going to hold up as one of the best KOs of 2016 when December rolls around.

WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (36-0, 35 KOs) successfully defended his belt against Poland’s Artur Szpilka (20-2, 15 KOs), but it wasn’t the easiest of victories. At the time of Wilder’s stoppage, he was ahead on all three scorecards 78-74, 78-74, and 77-75, but Bad Left Hook had it 77-75 in Szpilka’s favor. The decisive blow came in round 9, as Wilder drilled Szpilka with a whopper of a right hand that had him down and flattened out. No count was really necessary but the referee made it to 5 before waiving the fight off in the final minute of the 9th round. Szpilka stayed down for several minutes before leaving the ring on a stretcher for precautionary reasons. Fortunately, Szpilka did have movement in his extremities and his MRI and CT scans came back clean, per ESPN’s Dan Rafael.

Check out the highlights of the fight in the video at the top of the page. Showtime’s official highlights of Wilder vs. Szpilka start at the 1:09 mark, but if you want to see the knockout in real-time instead of slow-motion, Zombie Prophet has you covered in the 2nd vid below.

Deontay Wilder vs. Artur Szpilka #WilderSzpilka KTFO pic.twitter.com/vHPmA3rFKT

— ZombieProphet (@ZProphet_MMA) January 17, 2016

Meanwhile, WBO and WBA heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (25-0, 18 KOs) went into the ring, and he and Wilder engaged in a war of words, with Fury calling Wilder a “bum” and Wilder promising to “baptize” Fury if/when they fight. Judging by the crowd, you can tell it was a pro-Wilder audience.

I’ll spoil the party for any interested folks: This fight is almost certainly not going to happen this year. Wilder will likely face Alexander Povetkin in what is a genuinely intriguing contest, while Fury will have the Klitschko rematch. We’ll see what happens from there, but for now, we’ll have to settle for them cutting a promo that suggests it could happen soon.

For more boxing coverage, check out Bad Left Hook.

Deontay Wilder didn’t dominate Artur Szpilka in Saturday night’s main event, but the WBC heavyweight champion put his opponent away with what will likely hold up as one of the best KOs of 2016.

With Wladimir Klitschko no longer the #1 heavyweight in the world after Tyson Fury’s upset win over him last year, boxing’s heavyweight division suddenly looks wide open and, well, almost interesting! Last night’s Showtime Championship Boxing card from Brooklyn’s Barclays Center provided us with what is almost surely going to hold up as one of the best KOs of 2016 when December rolls around.

WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (36-0, 35 KOs) successfully defended his belt against Poland’s Artur Szpilka (20-2, 15 KOs), but it wasn’t the easiest of victories. At the time of Wilder’s stoppage, he was ahead on all three scorecards 78-74, 78-74, and 77-75, but Bad Left Hook had it 77-75 in Szpilka’s favor. The decisive blow came in round 9, as Wilder drilled Szpilka with a whopper of a right hand that had him down and flattened out. No count was really necessary but the referee made it to 5 before waiving the fight off in the final minute of the 9th round. Szpilka stayed down for several minutes before leaving the ring on a stretcher for precautionary reasons. Fortunately, Szpilka did have movement in his extremities and his MRI and CT scans came back clean, per ESPN’s Dan Rafael.

Check out the highlights of the fight in the video at the top of the page. Showtime’s official highlights of Wilder vs. Szpilka start at the 1:09 mark, but if you want to see the knockout in real-time instead of slow-motion, Zombie Prophet has you covered in the 2nd vid below.

Meanwhile, WBO and WBA heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (25-0, 18 KOs) went into the ring, and he and Wilder engaged in a war of words, with Fury calling Wilder a “bum” and Wilder promising to “baptize” Fury if/when they fight. Judging by the crowd, you can tell it was a pro-Wilder audience.

I’ll spoil the party for any interested folks: This fight is almost certainly not going to happen this year. Wilder will likely face Alexander Povetkin in what is a genuinely intriguing contest, while Fury will have the Klitschko rematch. We’ll see what happens from there, but for now, we’ll have to settle for them cutting a promo that suggests it could happen soon.

For more boxing coverage, check out Bad Left Hook.