Where, and when, did Deontay Wilder make his professional boxing debut?

Born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on October 22, 1985, Deontay ‘The Bronze Bomber’ Wilder was a relative latecomer to the sport of boxing, having his first fight, as an amateur, in October, 2005, just shy of his twentieth birthday. Nevertheless, Wilder was picked to represent Team America at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and won a bronze medal in the heavyweight division after losing to Italian Clemente Russo – who had beaten Oleksandr Usyk in his quarter-final – in the semi-final.

At a height of 6’7″, with a reach of 83″, Wilder was predicted to make his mark on the heavyweight division as and when he turned professional and he wasted little time in doing so. In fact, he made his professional debut at the Vanderbilt University Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville, Tennessee on November 15, 2008, just 85 days after his Olympic semi-final. His opponent on that occasion was unheralded countryman Ethan Cox, whom Wilder knocked down three times in the second round before referee Anthony Bryant waved an end to the contest.

Wilder has, indeed, scaled the heights that seemed likely early in his career. He won the World Boxing Council (WBC) World Heavyweight title with a unanimous points decision over Bermane Stiverne at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Paradise, Nevada in January, 2015 and would go on to make ten successful defences. He drew his first fight with Tyson Fury at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California in December, 2018 and, while he lost the rematch, by seventh-round knockout, and the trilogy fight, by eleventh-round knockout, he remains a highly marketable heavyweight.

Indeed, Wilder returned to action with a first-round knockout of Robert Helenius in a WBC title eliminator at Barclays Center, New York City in October, 2022 to give himself a range of options. A final eliminator against former unified heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr. is one possibility, although Wilder appears to have his sights set on another former champion, Anthony Joshua.

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