Deontay Wilder remains out of action and no closer to another fight after World Boxing News contacted his team to find out what is going on.
Despite informing the fans that he planned to be active before retiring at 40, the soon-to-be 38-year-old has fought twice since February 2020. That’s coming up to four years in early 2024.
When will Deontay Wilder fight again?
Right now, Wilder’s career is on life support, and it needs resuscitation, or at the very least, reanimation.
WBN contacted Shelly Finkel this week for an update on talks with Anthony Joshua. Wilder’s co-manager was either giving nothing away or had zero going on with Wilder.
His exact comments to WBN were: “There’s nothing to report here.”
That means either of those two things mentioned. However, in his latest update, Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, puts the blame firmly on Wilder and Finkel.
“It’s slow, I won’t lie. It’s a massive fight, and these things take time,” Hearn told DAZN. “Everything is agreed upon other than the signing of the paperwork.
“We know that takes time, especially in that part of the world [Saudi Arabia].
“For me, the biggest concern is AJ wants to fight in December or January. We know the Wilder fight will not happen in December, so we’re happy to wait until January.
“But if that fight starts pushing back to February or March, don’t be surprised if he still signs for that fight but has another one in between,” Hearn added.
Wilder vs Joshua stalling
On Joshua wanting Wilder before any other fight, Hearn stated: “He’s loving the activity at the moment. He’s loving being in training camp. He’s loving working with Derrick James.
“But our full focus is to sign the Deontay Wilder fight. I’m not disappointed, but we want to get it done.”
In November, WBN broke the world exclusive news that Wilder was not looking to follow through on a mandated WBC eliminator with Andy Ruiz Jr.
“Deontay is willing to fight Anthony Joshua next,” Finkel told World Boxing News. “We would take that fight in the UK or the Middle East and do it next.
“We have the WBC eliminator with Ruiz, and we will do that, but we want the Joshua fight. Eddie Hearn said he contacted me in August, but we had the [Robert] Helenius fight.
“We announced it that month. We said we won’t talk to anyone until after the Helenius fight. Eddie knew this but still said he had contacted us.
“Now we are willing to talk to make a deal for Joshua next.”
Ten months on, and nothing has seemingly changed for the better. Fans are still in the dark about Wilder’s next move, and apparently, so is the man who is supposed to be in the opposite corner.
Meanwhile, the longer Wilder waits, the older he gets. When he gets in the ring again, his activity levels will be more than critical. He may even begin as an underdog to a far more active AJ.
Phil Jay is an experienced boxing news writer.
