BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) Deontay Wilder retained his WBC heavyweight title with a technical knockout when Chris Arreola's corner stopped the fight after the eighth round Saturday night.
Arreola's left eye appeared swollen shut. Wilder (37-0, 36 knockouts) knocked down Arreola in the fourth and peppered him with left jabs and hooks after landing hard rights early.
Wilder said he broke his right hand during the fight and had a torn muscle in that biceps as well. He threw the right, his biggest weapon, sparingly after the fourth round.
It was Wilder's fourth title defense and third in Birmingham, about an hour from his hometown of Tuscaloosa.
Arreola (36-5-1) took the fight on short notice after Wilder's mandatory defense against Russian Alexander Povetkin was called off in May. Povetkin failed a drug test.
