Deontay Wilder faces another seven months on the sidelines despite negating on an eliminator with Andy Ruiz Jr. and pausing his career for a year.
“The Bronze Bomber” last fought in October 2022, blasting out Robert Helenius in one round. Wilder was then due to face Ruiz for a shot at the WBC title in the following months.
However, in November, co-manager Shelly Finkel told World Boxing News exclusively that Wilder wanted to go straight to a clash with Anthony Joshua.
According to Wilder and his team, talks with Ruiz had not gone well due to the demands of Mexico’s first heavyweight champion. Wilder moved on to AJ, and talks subsequently began.
But once underway, it became clear that Saudi Arabian interest hinged on Tyson Fur vs Oleksandr Usyk being part of a two-fight deal.
The goalposts were moved. Wilder then returned to give Ruiz another opportunity to agree on a deal. The pair went back and forth on social media, but Ruiz wouldn’t budge on his demands.
This left Wilder in a bad spot over the summer without a big fight option. Fury was out of commission fighting a non-boxer. Usyk was ordered to battle Daniel Dubois, Joshua wanted to wait, and Ruiz was outpriced.
Deontay Wilder faces further fight delay
Then we come to September, eleven months on from his last outing. Joshua has reiterated his interest in the encounter. However, there’s a distinct curveball thrown in.
Now Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, claims the clash may not happen until March or April. After waiting since November, Wilder won’t be happy with how the situation has played out.
A similar situation happened to the American in 2018 when he opened talks with Joshua. Wilder lost months before Fury stepped into the breach.
It certainly hasn’t been good for Wilder to put his eggs in the Joshua basket. According to Hearn, they’ve now turned their attention to the two places the Matchroom boss previously stated wouldn’t stage any Wilder vs Joshua event due to more money being elsewhere.
“There are other sites that want that fight. Only last night, we were looking at the numbers for Las Vegas. We were thinking, ‘Wow, Joshua against Wilder in Las Vegas, maybe that will be something that will be remembered for a long time,” Hearn told talkSPORT.
“There is a chance that AJ will fight in December. If we can’t lock that in for January, maybe we’ll push it [the Deontay Wilder fight] to March or April. Maybe we’ll look at alternative venues.”
Wilder will surely be seething that he’s been unable to land an interim fight, while Joshua has fought twice in the last five months.
Phil Jay is an experienced boxing news writer.
