The next opponent for unified IBF, WBA, and WBC Heavyweight Champion, Oleksandr Usyk, has seemingly been revealed. To the suprise of many, it isn’t against WBO champion, Fabio Wardley, or a trilogy fight with one of Anthony Joshua, Daniel Dubois or Tyson Fury.
Instead, The Cat has chosen to fight 44-4-1, and 40-year-old Deontay Wilder, whose had his reputation hit rock bottom, after losing to Joseph Parker and Zhilei Zhang.
Wilder has only had two wins since 2022, a first-round knockout against Robert Helenius, who was 31-4 at the time, and his most recent fight, a seventh-round stoppage of Tyrell Anthony Herndon.
The Rationale
Questions were quite rightly raised after Usyk picked Wilder as his voluntary defence, given the American’s recent struggles, which is in contrast to the Ukrainian’s boxing ability which seems to be something from another planet, owing to his ability to outbox Fury, Joshua and Dubois all twice, including two stoppage victories over the latter.
However, Usyk has justified his decision with the statement:
“I want to fight Deontay Wilder. I think it’s interesting.
“This is a world champion guy, this is a very famous guy, this is a strong guy.
“He is one of the great heavyweights of the last 10 years.”
Wilder’s boxing nouse has always been in question, but he always has that nuclear right hand that has earnt him 43 knockout victories.
In Usyk’s mind, Wilder is the last man standing from the previous era of heavyweight contenders, from 2015-2020. Having dealt with the new blood of Dubois, and the old guard in Fury and Joshua, it looks a win-win for The Cat.
Wilder has still got some name value, owing to his famous knockout power, that even dropped Fury several times, and his five-year reign with the WBC belt, and as many predict, it should be an easy night’s work for him because Usyk is the one fighter Wilder can not act the way he did in the fights with Zhang and Parker, because as history will say, unless you knock him out, Usyk will win.
Given Wilder’s recent tendency to appear gun shy in the face of a challenge, and only lets off the right hand against fighters who pose no threat, and unfortunately for Wilder, most of his opponets in his WBC reign didn’t, Artur Szpilka, Johann Duhaupas and Bermane Stiverne to name a few, Wilder’s biggest win is undoubtedly in the form of his two victories against Luis Ortiz, and he also holds a win against former WBO champion, Sergei Liakhovich.
Judgement Day
The Bronze Bomber will need to reclaim that eye of the tiger soon because by his own admission, he wants the fight more than anything:
“Just the excitement that it has drawn for boxing fans has been amazing, and I don’t doubt that it’s going to happen, especially at this moment in time of negotiation, it looks very promising
“My heart is pumping right now just to get back in there, this is something that I need, this is something that I’ve been waiting on to get myself back together mentally, because physically, nothing ever happened physically, it was just all mental – get myself mentally back together.
“Now that I’m here and I get this opportunity, it’s a beautiful thing, so I’m looking forward to it. Hopefully negotiation goes just as smooth as it’s going now, everything is agreed upon fairly.
“I’m still here, and to get this opportunity, it’s a blessing that I am.
“Like I told Usyk, I appreciate that. So, we’re going to see, fans get ready, it’s going to be something.”
