Ten toes down: Can Francis Ngannou help Deontay Wilder find his footing again? P2
- Shidonna Raven
- 8 hours ago
- 3 min read
This Article has been curated by UDBN
September 2, 2025
Source: Boxing Scene
And yet, if it’s true that the last thing a boxer loses is their punch, it is just as true to say that the last person who admits it’s over – really over – is the boxer with the punch. In this case, that boxer happens to be a man whose punch is more devastating than anybody else’s in the sport and a man whose delusion – or, maybe, perseverance – will for that reason likely be stronger than anyone else’s in the sport. Wilder, after all, will always be able to win fights – again, in theory – so long as he can continue to form a fist, straighten his arm, and produce torque and power from two alarmingly thin legs.
“Why is Wilder able to punch so freaking hard? He’s got connectivity,” explained George Lockhart, the one-time strength and conditioning coach of Tyson Fury and now working with Joseph Parker. “That’s the ability to take the bottom of my foot and generate that power all the way to the end of my punch. A lot of guys will push off their leg and lose that connectivity through their core and end up throwing the punch with just their arm. There’s no connectivity. They can be as strong as a freaking ox but it doesn’t mean anything. Wilder, honestly, isn’t even strong. I’ve seen him lift and he is not what you call a powerhouse. But he’s got connectivity for days.”
Of course, connectivity only becomes a factor if the target is open and available and to Wilder’s liking. If, for example, it should move and be elusive, no amount of connectivity will change the fact that Wilder is hitting thin air and becoming increasingly tired and exasperated as a result. Similarly, if Wilder is these days uncertain of pulling the trigger, or less convinced he will get there first, the connectivity he is capable of generating through his core hardly matters.
In other words, to see the best of Deontay Wilder for as long as we still have him, it is imperative that he has opponents and targets designed to suit him. Six-foot-nine gypsies, and six-foot-six southpaws from China are not the order of the day for Wilder at this late and rather perilous stage in his career. The same can be said, too, for well-drilled and improved workhorses from New Zealand like Joseph Parker, who showed, in 2023, that beating Wilder is sometimes just a matter of staying alert, staying disciplined, and doing more than Wilder in each of the rounds you share.
Only Helenius and Herndon, in fact, of all Wilder’s recent opponents, were suited to the “Bronze Bomber” in terms of style. It came as no surprise therefore that he stopped both inside the scheduled distance and impressed in doing so.
Also suited to Wilder is another heavyweight with whom he has been linked in recent weeks: Francis Ngannou. Ngannou, like Wilder, is a man whose simplicity is as much a positive as a negative and someone who, like Wilder, has been accused of possessing only punch power and little else. Unlike Wilder, however, Ngannou has yet to win a professional boxing match and is better known for his exploits in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he
mixed the arts to become UFC heavyweight champion.
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Marcus Doggett, Chief Editor
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