Deontay Leshun Wilder (born October 22, 1985) is an American professional boxer. He has held the WBC heavyweight title since 2015, and in doing so became the first American world heavyweight champion in nine years, which was the longest period of time in boxing history without an American heavyweight champion. As an amateur he won a bronze medal in the heavyweight division at the 2008 Olympics. This led to his nickname of "The Bronze Bomber", which Wilder coined after Joe Louis, who was known by the nickname of "The Brown Bomber".