Deontay Wilder violently finishes Szpilka in the ninth

Deontay Wilder violently finishes Szpilka in the ninth

And still.

Although the scorecards may not have reflected it, Deontay Wilder had his hands full against tricky Pole Artur Szpilka on Saturday evening, but as he has proven time and time again, the explosive authority behind his right hand can paralyze.

Wilder’s power is the epitome of what fans expect of the heavyweight division, and although “BOMB SQUAD” did not land many flush shots during the fight, the one that counted, flattened his opponent into siesta.

Wilder defended the WBC World heavyweight title for a third consecutive time after a vicious right hand knocked Szpilka out viciously in the ninth round.

The American improved to an incredible 36-0 with 35 knockouts, improving his KO ratio to 97 percent.

Szpilka had been boxing intelligently for a majority of the evening, but when he saw an opportunity to astonish Wilder with a roundhouse left hand, he attempted to do so.

However, Wilder countered him with an earth shattering right to the chin, and in the blink of an eye, the fight came to a frightening end.

Szpilka boxed methodically early on to stay out of range and put points on the board against the lengthy Wilder.

And it was working, Szpilka was not allowing Wilder to get too close, and his constant head movement was a cause for confusion amongst Wilder’s camp.

All of that changed towards the middle rounds as Szpilka was beginning to show little signs of fatigue, and Wilder did not appear worse for wear.

It was surprisingly an exciting, intriguing fight from start to finish, despite the champion fighting a lightly regarded opponent.

The excitement certainly trumped the undercard, which featured Vyacheslav Glazkov tangling for the vacant IBF World heavyweight championship against Charles Martin, the title stripped from Tyson Fury last December.

In a strange one, to say the least, Martin came away with the title after Glazkov blocked a punch, tearing his ACL as he fell to the canvas.

The Ukrainian informed referee Albert Earl Brown that he was unable to continue, and Martin was declared the official winner by third-round TKO.

-Ryan O’Hara/ @OHaraSports