Deontay Wilder is widely regarded as being the hardest hitting heavyweight of his generation, and has a claim as one of the sport’s all-time biggest punchers.
‘The Bronze Bomber’ reigned as the WBC heavyweight champion for five years between 2015 and 2020, making ten successful defences of his crown against the likes of Luis Ortiz, Dominic Breazeale and Eric Molina.
Known for his thunderous punching power, which has played a key role in 43 of the 44 fights he has won via knockout, Wilder is considered to be one of the hardest hitting heavyweights in boxing history.
Despite this, three-time world heavyweight title challenger Chris Arreola, who faced ‘The Bronze Bomber’ back in 2016 and lost by eighth round retirement, believes there is one active heavyweight that punches even harder than the Alabama-native.
Speaking on Inside The Ring, Arreola revealed that former unified heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz actually hits harder than Wilder, praising the ‘fast hands’ of ‘The Destroyer’.
“Andy for sure. Even though I dropped Andy, Andy still hits harder, and the reason I say it is he has fast hands, his combinations and he’s strong. He’s strong as heck, he’s low to the bottom, like Wilder, the only shot he has is [the right hand] but he has to get you on the end of the punch, but if he smothers you he ain’t gonna hit that hard.”
Ruiz clashed with Arreola at the Dignity Health Sports Park in California back in 2021, defeating his countryman via unanimous decision after a competitive 12-rounds.
‘The Destroyer’ is best known for his monumental upset victory over Anthony Joshua when he stopped the Brit in the seventh round of their showdown at Madison Square Garden six years ago to capture the WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight titles in dramatic fashion. He has teased a return having been mostly inactive since losing the ‘AJ’ rematch, with a potential fight against Wilder still on the table.
