Washington KO’d in fifth by champion Wilder

With heavy odds and a capacity crowd against him, Gerald Washington was looking to shock the boxing world Saturday night.

Vying for a mammoth upset and the World Boxing Council heavyweight championship against Deontay Wilder, Washington made the somewhat implausible seem conceivable for the first four rounds.

But then Wilder found the right hand that had laid so many to waste before and knocked out the Burbank-trained Washington at the 1:45 mark of the fifth round Saturday night at the Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Ala. in a Premier Boxing Champions card main event live on Fox.

Wilder stunned Washington with a huge right cross and put him on the canvas with a follow-up left in the fifth round.

Washington quickly got up, but was clearly hurt as a standing-eight count was administered. Wilder wildly went in for the kill with left and right haymakers until the referee stopped the fight. At first Washington looked to just walk away, but then began staggering.

It was the first loss for Washington (18-1-1, 12 knockouts), a 6-foot-6, 34 year old who trains under John Pullman at Pullmans Boxing Gym in Burbank.

“I just got a little impatient,” Washington said in the postfight press conference. “I was trying to go for it. It was an even boxing match. I could have kept it like that and kept it boring. I don’t know why I fell asleep there. I guess I lost a little focus.

“I caught him with one shot when he was coming in. But instead of me keeping that play going and keep pushing him back and keep him in control by keeping him in the center of the ring, I tried to get on him. I was trying to play a little counter punch role and catch him coming in. He just caught me.”

The 31-year-old, 6-7 Wilder (38-0), an Alabama native, has claimed the majority of his 37 career knockouts on the strength of his right hand, but rarely used it over the first four rounds, in which he was largely inactive and rarely the first to exchange.

The official scorecards had the bout even at two rounds apiece heading into the fifth in the eyes of two judges, while another had Wilder leading, 3-1. On the Burbank Leader’s scorecard, Washington was leading three rounds to one, but then Wilder dropped the hammer.

Washington opened the first round with some good left jabs and was the early aggressor from the center of the ring. Little happened, but Washington was far more active.

Washington was still the aggressor to start the second round as both fighters seemed to still be sizing each other up in somewhat awkward, herky-jerky fashion. It was still mostly just jabs for Washington, but he landed a solid right cross to the body.

Early on in the third, punches came more freely from both with Washington coming forward throwing power shots. A long, left jab by Washington landed and snapped Wilder’s chin back as one of the most effective shots to that point.

Wilder seemed to turn the action in the fourth, digging a left hook to the body and beginning to throw Washington around in clinches.

In the fifth, as the storyline seemed to be Wilder looking lethargic and unlike himself, Washington, a 20-1 underdog by some sports books, suddenly had his world championship hopes dashed.