When Deontay Wilder Hit Siarhei Liakhovich So Hard That His Legs And Arms Wouldn't Stop Twitching

Deontay Wilder's destructive punching power was shown to full effect when he annihilated Siarhei Liakhovich in a brutal first-round KO.

The 34-year-old WBC champ stepped into the ring with the Belarusian fighter in August 2013, only a few months after he destroyed Audley Harrison in his only UK bout.

And Wilder followed up his performance against Harrison with arguably his scariest KO at the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California.

The KO artist caught Liakhovich with a brutal right that forced him onto the ropes before following up with the finishing blow.

Wilder unleashed a ferocious right hand that landed on the 43-year-old's left temple and sent him crashing to the canvas.

But Liakhovich was left convulsing on the floor as he lost complete control of his legs and arms.

Referee Tom Taylor immediately stepped in and called an end to the fight, but he also dropped to one knee and placed one hand on Liakhovich to stop him from twitching.

Wilder's fight ended at the 1:43 mark in the first round and he retained the WBC Continental Americas heavyweight title at the time.

The Alabama native, who notched up his 29th professional victory at the time, even admitted that it "was a scary moment" when he saw the replay.

"I saw it afterward on the replay on the big screen when I looked back and I saw it on the monitor," he told Ring Magazine.

"That's when my smile went into a frown, and I was concerned and I was worried, because that was a scary moment.

"That was one of those things that, when I saw that, I was like, 'Oh, man,' and I was saying prayers for him.

"They're saying that he's going to be okay, and I heard that he's going to be in the hospital for a couple of days, but that was a scary moment. I've seen it all over the place.

"That was on YouTube and it's on the internet. Just to see his eyes roll into the back of his head and him going into a seizure like that, and he had a concussion as well, that was scary. Very scary."

Featured Image Credit: Sky Sports

Topics: Bronze Bomber, Boxing News, Boxing, Deontay Wilder

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz is a journalist for SPORTbible. He studied for a B.A. in History at the University of York and followed it up with an M.A. in Multimedia Journalism at MMU. Before he started writing about sports, he spent over four years in the gaming press. He has worked for several publications, including Hardcore Gamer, LADbible and the Manchester Evening News. Follow him on Twitter to find out what he is working on next. Got a story tip for Adnan? Email him: [email protected]

@AdnanRiaz9