Deontay Wilder is highly rated in the new heavyweight rankings despite a startling fact that has bred hysterical calls for the former WBC champion’s removal.
“The Bronze Bomber” is widely regarded as one of the four major top-division operators in the world – certainly in stature. The Alabama slammer takes his place alongside Tyson Fury, Oleksandr Usyk, and Anthony Joshua in the top four.
However, Wilder is suffering the worst run of form of those four. The reality is that the 37-year-old has scored only one victory in the last three and a half years – two in the previous four.
Compare that to Fury, the opponent who defeated him twice. “The Gypsy King” beat Wilder in 2020 and 2021 before adding victories over British rivals Dillian Whyte and Derek Chisora in 2022.
Even Joshua, who has lost two fights, has three wins in the last four years. While Usyk, the number one pound-for-pound fighter on the planet and WBN Fighter of the Year, is seemingly in unbeatable form.
Deontay Wilder form
A solitary win for Wilder since November 2019 is undoubtedly not top-contender form by any stretch of the imagination. However, calls by some to cut Wilder entirely from the vicinity of the upper echelons of the rankings are harsh, to say the least.
On his day, Wilder could be the best in the world on the sheer one-punch power factor alone. It only takes a single shot to end a fight. That’s if he catches any of the top three in the sweet spot.
Talk of Wilder facing Joshua and Fury taking on Usyk is currently the latest report to do the rounds. Realistically, though, there’s more chance of Floyd Mayweather winning a welterweight title than those two bouts happening on the same night.
Heavyweight bouts in Saudi Arabia
Wilder and Joshua couldn’t agree after painstaking discussions in 2018. Fury and Usyk did similar over the past five months. It’s not ended well so far.
Judging by comments by Usyk, that won’t change anytime soon.
“He says, seventy-thirty [split]. I am the king. It’s all thanks to me.’ I don’t respond to that. I understand that this is a mental game.
“The king is the king. And the king does not need to shout that he is the king. I saw that nothing was happening, he was trying to play us, and I said, ‘That’s all, bye!’
“He is trying very hard to copy the great Muhammad Ali, but he is a terrible copy.”
