Tonight’s spoilers

Big night of boxing as the WBSS semi finals take place in Scotland. Later on in Stevenage Billy Joe Saunders fights for WBO super middleweight title. And in the early hours Wilder vs Breazeale.

Naoya Inoue destroyed Emmanuel Rodríguez to advance to the WBSS final against Nonito Donaire. The monster battered Rodríguez inside 2 rounds to win vacant ring title and unify IBF/WBA regular titles.

Josh Taylor tames ‘the Beast’ Ivan Baranchyk to win IBF light welterweight title. Taylor dropped the Belarusian twice and sets up a unification with WBA champion Regis Prograis.

Billy Joe Saunders beat Shefat Isufi by unanimous decision(120-108 117-111 118-110) to win the vacant WBO super middleweight title. Saunders was in cruise control for pretty the entire fight, aside from a minor scare in the 6th Isufi stunned him with a clean shot. 

On the undercard heavyweight prospect Joe Joyce battered Russian veteran Alexander Ustinov and got a third round KO.

WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder retained his title by destroying Dominic Breazeale in the first round. Wilder might not have any technical ability but he's got incredible power. If Joshua mans up, Wilder ices him no doubts about it.

On the undercard WBC featherweight champion Gary Russell Jr made his annual appearance and KO'd Kiko Martinez inside 5 rounds.

The Taylor-Prograis match is mouthwatering. I fully expected Baranchyk to be a sterner test, but maybe Taylor's good enough to make a decent fighter look ordinary.

Inoue is mightily impressive and unless Donaire pulls something amazing out of the bag, he will cruise to the WBSS title.

Wilder does have freakishly impressive power. However, Breazeale had no right to be in there against him. The WBC installed him as mandatory despite him only having fought nobodies since losing to AJ. He has no defence so it was easy for Wilder to utilise his vicious shots. Look how he struggled with Fury and look how he struggled with Ortiz. If you think AJ will be an easy night's work then that's fine. But I am not certain it will be that one sided. AJ has beaten both Wlad and Povetkin in impressive fashion, two far more technical fighters that Wilder wanted nothing to do with. His power is an equalizer, sure, but styles make fights, and BIG power is not the be all and end all. If it was, Mike Tyson or George Foreman would still be champs. Impressive win by Wilder, but against what level of opposition?

Wilder was more impressive against Breazeale than A. Joshua.   Joshua bludgeoned Breazeale, turned his face into mush, but didn't land a "knockout" punch like Wilder - it was more the weight of punches that defeated Breazeale.

With regard Breazeale's knockout at the hands of Wilder - he basically walked into it and just didn't see the shot / wasn't reading Wilder's body movement.  Breazeale would have got up if the count was twelve - he was getting up onto his feet at around count 8-9 but didn't make it in time.  

Wilder caught Breazeale earlier but wasn't able to immediately finish him off - Breazeale got pushed into a corner, managed to set up his defence a little and then caught Wilder with an overhand punch to the top of the head - which stunned Wilder briefly and Wilder had to take a few steps back.

I think it is clear that Wilder has freakish power in his hands and I think it is the way he throws his punch that generates the power - it is the speed of his fist plus the weight he puts behind it.  As a heavyweight Wilder is very light.

I think his punch speed is a lot faster than AJ's.   AJ has more weight behind his punches but the slower speed makes his single shot punch less concussive.

I think Wilder is a more intuitive fighter than AJ.  AJ is learning his craft, is ultra-professional, and 'trained', while Wilder is more intuitive and ragged.  Wilder was outfoxed by an out of condition Tyson Fury but has the power to knock Fury out.

Joshua beating Wlad is irrelevant, Fury solved that puzzle. And secondly Wlad came out of a 17 month limbo and still came within a few seconds of bursting the Joshua hype.

Joshua is very slow and heavy on his feet. Wilder is obviously a freakish athlete. Whilst Wilder's chin is rumoured to be weak, is Joshua capable of landing before Wilder takes his head off? I'd say no.

I came across a comparison that seems about right.  Wilder in terms of the power he is able to generate in his fists is being compared to Thomas Hearns.  Both slim rangy builds for their weight class.  Both dependent on lightning speed to generate the power.  Both with an awkward / self-developed style.

All this talk of Wilder's punching power is extremely impressive, but he has to land the punches to have an effect. AJ is better than most give him credit for on the defensive front but he is a bit wooden. He does have a much more measured approach to his fights than Wilder more recently, presumably following his knockdown against Wlad.

Wilder is very much a power fighter and if they do ever fight, I do expect AJ to really have to be on his A game. He may well end up on the floor at some point, but it is rare that he takes a flush shot. Wilder is excellent at catching fighters cold - Breazeale, Stiverne (fight #2), Scott, Liakhovic and Harrison are examples of this. The cream of the heavyweights they are not.

Let's not forget that Wilder is vulnerable himself, simply due to his erratic style, poor footwork and reliance on the big right hand. I love watching him because he's exciting, but AJ did not become a unified champ by being a mug. It's a mouthwatering match up, so I really hope that it gets made. Don't forget that if AJ lands on Wilder's chin, just as much as Wilder being impressive with his fists, so is Joshua. Whilst he may not have Deontay's extent of fast-twitch fibres, he carries an extra 21lbs of weight behind his punches.

If AJ can weather the early attack, he wins IMO. It's just whether he can.