Unbeaten Heavyweight Deontay Wilder Will Now Face Kertson Manswell On Aug. 4th

By James Slater -- “Bronze Bomber” Deontay Wilder was hoping to take a significant step up in his next fight, scheduled for August 4th, against fellow unbeaten Kelvin Price, but Price has fallen out due to injury and now the 26-year-old who captured a bronze medal at the 2008 Olympic games will face “Warrior” Kertson Manswell; so reports Fightnews.com.

The 35-year-old from Trinidad and Tobago is no top-notch fighter (neither, in all honesty, is 37-year-old Price), but his 22-5(17) record is decent enough and Manswell has been in with some top names: losing decisions to Ruslan Chagaev, Mike Perez (in “Prizefighter”) and Cedric Boswell, as well as being stopped by Bermane Stiverne. Manswell also holds wins over the likes of Corey “T-Rex” Sanders and Louis Monaco. In his last outing, in March of this year, Manswell was halted inside three-rounds by the huge Alexander Ustinov.

Wilder, 23-0(23) and yet to be taken past the 4th-round, is sure to bag another stoppage win in my opinion, but as a late replace foe, Manswell is not too bad. It’s also possible, though unlikely, that we may see Wilder’s chin tested in next month’s fight. If Manswell can do one thing, he can punch pretty good. But will the older, shop-worn warrior be able to get anywhere near close enough to the tall speedster to be able to do any damage?

Wilder is at last, at long last, looking to take at least a small step up in quality of opposition, and hopefully next year we will see him in with a top-20 or maybe even a top-10 contender. And Wilder is stepping up in terms of numbers of rounds, with the Manswell bout set, somewhat optimistically, for ten-rounds.

I go for Wilder to have a good look at his man in the early going, before going to work and getting the stoppage around the 4th or 5th.