It took only two rounds for Deontay Wilder to knock out DeAndre Abron at Shelton State’s Umphrey Center on Saturday night. The victory moved the Tuscaloosa native to 15-0, all wins by way of the knockout.
The only problem was Abron did not feel he was knocked out. After sustaining a multitude of hard jabs to the head and body, the referee determined that he could no longer fight and declared Wilder the winner by way of technical knockout.
“First of all, I’m an experienced fighter,” Abron said. “Obviously I think the fight was stopped premature. I think as long as a man has his hands up, and he is aware of what’s going on, I feel like I wasn’t looking for the corner or anything like that. Like I said I’ve been doing this for a day or two now so I think I can handle the situation.”
The heavily favored Wilder thought differently and was glad that the fight was stopped before Abron was injured.
“I think the referee did a great job of stopping [the fight],” Wilder said. “Once I can feel my opponent’s face in my glove, it’s about a wrap. He’s a very good fighter, he’s a veteran in the game, but I’m an up and coming guy and, I’m Deontay Wilder man.”
No matter the decision to call the fight, it seemed apparent Wilder would have come out on top. The massive 6’-6” 240 pound Wilder came into the ring adorned in Shelton State green and gold trunks, much to the delight of the hometown fans. After bringing the crowd to its feet, Wilder kept them there, unleashing punch after punch on Abron, who could do little else than attempt to shield himself from the punches.
“I couldn’t have asked for more,” Wilder said. “Everyone did a great job, from putting up the show to having the show here at Shelton State. Everything was smooth, everything was great. I think we gave the people what they wanted to see.”
The boastful Wilder even managed to put on a little show for the crowd. After delivering a powerful jab to Abron, Wilder performed a little shimmy for the crowd.
“I just learned it tonight,” Wilder said.
Saturday night marked the first professional boxing event held in Alabama. Fight promoter Jay Deas said that he was happy with the turn out and that the event was extremely positive for the new commission.
“The energy, the interest is phenomenal,” Deas said. “This shows that this can be something really big. We’ve had to prove a lot of people wrong. A lot of people didn’t want this thing to happen. We’ve had to fight every inch of the way. To see it come through tonight, it’s just been unbelievable.”
Wilder said that he enjoyed fighting in his hometown and thinks that there should be many more fights like the one Saturday.
“I want to do this Alabama commission thing like every month,” Wilder said. “There are a lot of fighters here locally. I think, keep it happening, we got our own commission now so let’s make use of it.”
