Wilder KOs Breazeale in Round 1 to defend title

New York: Deontay Wilder emphatically got back into the win column Saturday night, knocking out Dominic Breazeale with an overpowering right hand in the first round to defend his heavyweight title.

Wilder hurt Breazeale with a right to the head early in their fight at Barclays Centre, but the challenger had recovered from that early onslaught. But there was no coming back from the right later in the round that immediately dropped Breazeale, who was trying to get up as referee Harvey Dock counted him out at 2:17 of the round.

Wilder (41-0-1, 40 KOs) was coming off his draw against Tyson Fury in December. “Everything just came out of me tonight,” Wilder said.