Deontay Wilder vs Chris Arreola result: Wilder stops Arreola before Round 9

Here are the full fight highlights from the WBC heavyweight title fight between Deontay Wilder and Chris Arreola.

As Deontay Wilder keeps racking up wins, his legend keeps growing. His last knockout against Artur Szpilka is one that will be replayed for years to come, while a megafight against Alexander Povetkin in Russia was cancelled and rescheduled into an emotional homecoming for the champion against Chris Arreola.

This PBC telecast was built for Wilder, and he wanted to prove that this was his time. With this win over Arreola, The Bronze Bomber proved that he is the next great American heavyweight, and he might be taking a big step towards unification fights against Anthony Joshua or the winner of the Tyson Fury-Wladimir Klitschko rematch.

Wilder’s walkout was chilling, as he came out sporting his Bronze Bomber mask, and wearing trunks that paid tribute to Muhammad Ali.

Here’s a look at how the fight played out:

Rounds 1 & 2

The first round was pretty uneventful with neither fighter getting a power punch in. Wilder did work his jab in, which made Arreola back away. In the early stages, the challenger is fighting very cautiously, which is understandable since he doesn’t want to leave himself open for a counter-hook.

However, Arreola is more dangerous in the early rounds, so for Wilder, fighting cautiously is the smart thing to do. But with that being said, he still landed a couple of big right hands that cut Arreola:

Rounds 3 & 4

Wilder is controlling the fight at distance, but Arreola had his best moment of the fight when he backed the champ up against the ropes and let a few shots go. That continued into the fourth round as the challenger has started to build some momentum; he clearly works best in close corners where he can land body shots.

But just as Arreola was starting to get something going, Wilder scored his first knockdown of the night. He was able to get back up, but he just barely survived the onslaught that followed. It’s not looking good for the challenger, who looks like he’s just one power punch away from getting knocked out.

Round 5

Just like Muhammad Ali, Wilder seems content with taking shots against the ropes, but once they get separated, he’s able to dictate the tempo again. However, Arreola is no George Foreman and his body shots are hardly doing much damage to Wilder. That being said, this is the first round that Arreola has won, as Wilder didn’t throw his right hand at all.

Rounds 6 & 7

At this point, Arreola should be happy that he’s gotten this far. He’s put up a good fight, but is still losing big. But Wilder continues to not throw his right hand, causing some concern that he might have hurt it.

At this point, both fighters are banged up. Arreola’s eyes are practically shut while Wilder is fighting with one hand. Arreola should just go for broke because it would be a famous victory if he could get it.

Wilder ends the seventh round with his first power punch in a long time, which came after Arreola might have caught him with a low blow.

Round 8

Another dominant round for the champion there left Arreola wobbling back to the corner. He seemed reluctant to get off his stool, and his corner agreed to stop the contest. For Wilder, he improves to 37-0 with 36 knockouts, but that might have been the most meaningless knockout of his career.

There’s no telling where Wilder will go from here. He might believe that he’s next in line against the Big Three of the heavyweight division, but this performance might convince people otherwise. There will likely be medical reports released in the coming days regarding whether or not Wilder was fully healthy in this contest, but even so, this was an uninspiring homecoming for the Bronze Bomber, even if it did end with a win.

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