Joe Rogan declares Deontay Wilder the most impressive knockout artist in boxing history: “The touch of death”

Joe Rogan has a massive amount of respect for Deontay Wilder’s knockout abilities after watching ‘The Bronze Bomber’ knockout out Robert Helenius in the first round last weekend.

Wilder came into the fight looking to re-establish himself as one of the most dangerous heavyweights in boxing and shake off back-to-back losses to Tyson Fury. He did just that, catching Helenius with a huge right hand moving backwards that crumpled his opponent to the canvas unconscious.

“It’s absolutely f***ing amazing the power that ‘The Bronze Bomber’ can generate,” Rogan wrote on Instagram. “He’s truly unlike anyone I’ve ever seen in the history of the heavyweight division. You can make no mistakes with this man.”

“There have been many incredible KO artists in the history of boxing,” he contiuned. “But for my money he’s the most impressive. If you look at this punch, it wasn’t even with full leverage and his opponent instantly shuts off. It’s what the great Firas Zahabi calls ‘the touch of death.'”

 

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While many combat sports fans will undoubtedly argue with Joe, there’s something to be said for his assessment that most heavyweight knockout artists don’t carry that KO power deep into their fights like Deontay Wilder. Wilder, Rogan has argued, is just as dangerous in the twelfth round as he is in the first.

Rogan has been a long-time fan of Deontay Wilder and had him as a guest on The Joe Rogan Experience back in December 2018. That was immediately after Wilder and Fury had fought for the first time, with the bout ending in a controversial draw. Wilder knocked Fury down in the twelfth round, and many felt it was a clear knockout. In another JRE episode, Rogan argued that it should have ended as a knockout win for Wilder.

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“The referee is supposed to go ‘One two…’ when the guy goes down,” Rogan said (via TalkSport). “But if for any reason he has to interrupt the count, you’re supposed to pick up the count where the ringside counter has it. So there’s a guy who’s counting ringside, and he’ll keep the count going. So if you’re at ‘One, two,’ and then you’re like ‘Go to a neutral corner,’ that guy is supposed to be like ‘three, four, five,’ but he didn’t.”

“He went back to it, ‘Three, four,’ but the guy had already been down for a couple seconds. Without a doubt it was a long count. I think it’s an error, or corruption. Most likely an error, most likely the guy’s panicking.”

However it should have been called, the fight was declared a draw and then Wilder lost to Fury in the two subsequent bouts. But he always came with that shotgun loaded and nearly blew Fury’s head off in every fight. Now ‘The Bronze Bomber’ is aiming to take on Oleksandr Usyk, who holds the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight titles.

“You know, and the last champion that came to a fight that said he would give me a fight, he went the other way after a devastating knockout,” Wilder said after beating Helenius. “So we’ll see what happens. And I’m gonna keep Usyk to his word.”

Do you agree with Joe Rogan on Deontay Wilder’s place amongst the great knockout artists in boxing history? Let us know in the comments, PENN Nation!