Deontay Wilder wants quick KO to start 2016 in style
Saturday 9 January 2016 11:22, UK
Deontay Wilder says stopping Artur Szpilka early will lay down a marker for 2016 as he seeks to unify the heavyweight titles.
The American defends his WBC belt live on Sky Sports next weekend on a bill also featuring Charles Martin and Vyacheslav Glazkov's scrap for the vacant IBF version.
That title was stripped from Tyson Fury within weeks of his stunning victory over Wladimir Klitschko in November, and Britain's double world champion remains in Wilder's sights.
But Szpilka is the immediate priority, and Wilder is targeting a return to the kind of form that brought 32 consecutive stoppages inside four rounds before Bermane Stiverne took him the distance a year ago.
"I'm excited about the new year," said the unbeaten 30-year-old, who claims he twice defended his title last year while still getting over a hand injury suffered in the Stiverne fight,
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"I want this fight to be already the fight of the year, and this is just the beginning of the year. So that's what excitement I'm trying to bring to this fight. I'm trying to bring a severe knockout.
"I want to get back to my knockout days. My hands were still out all this time, last year my hand was about 85 per cent when I defended my title. Now it's looking back, strong as ever. It's back to 100 per cent, and I'm looking to go back to where I used to be - four rounds or under.
"I want it to be embedded in you guys' brains that 2016 belongs to Deontay Wilder, where he will unify the division. There hasn't been one since 1999. That was Lennox Lewis. Now I must make history. I can't let any man get in my way from that."
Wilder has long sought a fight with Klitschko but now believes "Old Father Time" might be catching up with the deposed Ukrainian.
"I think it's knocking at his door, and that fight proved it," he said of the Fury defeat. "There's talk of a rematch, and I'm going to see the second time around. Some people are still in daze of belief, because they can't believe what they've seen."
