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Deontay Wilder started slow — very slow — tonight in Birmingham, Alabama, but once he uncorked his right hand, it was game over for Gerald Washington.
Wilder (38-0, 37 KO) arguably lost all of the first four rounds just on Washington (18-1-1, 12 KO) dictating the tempo behind a solid jab, and Wilder simply not doing much of anything, but a single right hand in round five pretty much ended the fight, dropping Washington and putting him on bad legs.
Washington did try to fight on, but a wild swinging Wilder caught him a couple more times, and forced the referee to stop the fight.
It wasn’t the most impressive or confident showing from Wilder, but he got the job done and now will look, hopefully, to move toward a unification fight, either with WBO titleholder Joseph Parker, or the winner of the IBF/WBA title fight between Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko.
Here’s the finish:
0 to 100 real quick!! @BronzeBomber improves to 38-0 (37 KO) by stopping Gerald Washington in Round 5. #WilderWashington #PBConFOX pic.twitter.com/JMN08WWOpd
— PBC (@premierboxing) February 26, 2017