If that was it for Deontay Wilder, he went out with a bang – the powerful right hand of “Big Bang’’ Zhilei Zhang.
Zhang knocked out Wilder at 1:51 of the fifth round of their heavyweight bout in Saudi Arabia, sending the American boxer to his fourth defeat in his past five fights — in what might have been his last fight.
Before the fight, Wilder called the bout a make-or-break moment and entertained the possibility of retirement. He looked broken when he got hit by two Zhang rights in the fifth round that dropped him to the canvas.
The 6-foot-6 Zhang weighed in at 282 pounds, 68 pounds heavier than Wilder did at 214.
The proof was in the punch.
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When Zhang landed the knockout punch, it was with massive force.
The 6-foot-7 Wilder did land a few powerful right hands earlier in the round. But Zhang absorbed them before finishing off Wilder.
Wilder had grazed Zhang with a right hand and appeared to be complaining to the referee before he got hit with the knockout punch. Wilder did not participate in an in-ring interview after the fight.
Wilder, 38, fell to 43-4-1. Zhang, the 41-year-old southpaw from China, improved to 27-2-1.