By Scott Gilfoid: Undefeated #3 WBC, Deontay Wilder (29-0, 29 KO’s) faces journeyman Nicolai Firtha (21-10-1, 8 KO’s) in a stay busy fight on October 26th at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. This isn’t the fight that the 6’7” Deontay wanted for this card, because he wanted a big name to show off his stuff.
Unfortunately, none of the well-known talents wanted to mix it up with Deontay; leaving him little choice but to take the bout with Firtha. It’s still a good fight for Deontay, as he needs fights like this to keep improving his skills to sharpen up.
With knockout punchers like Deontay, timing is everything, and that’s why guys like Firtha are still worthy opponents for him.
Deontay’s trainer Jay Deas said “We’re excited to be on the undercard of a legend like Bernard Hopkins. Even though this came on short notice, Deontay has been in camp with David Haye so we’ll be ready. Firtha was in camp along with Deontay in Austria to help prepare Wlad Klitschko for Mariusz Wach, so we know him well. He’s coming off a win and went the distance with Johnathan Banks and Povetkin so he’s competed at a high level with top fighters, not to mention giving Fury fans a real scare in their fight. We look forward to Oct. 26th.”
Jay is right about Firtha giving Fury a scare. He had Fury staggering around after nailing him with a beautiful right hand bomb to the head in that fight, and had Firtha added another right hand shot, I have no doubts that he would have finished him off.
The Firtha fight keeps Deontay in position to fight for the WBC heavyweight title once champion Vitali Klitschko retires, vacates or gets booted as the champion by the World Boxing Council.
Deontay wants to fight for the vacant WBC title against the likes of Bermane Stiverne or Chris Arreola. At 42, Vitali doesn’t have much time left at the top, and he’s not going to be able to keep fighting once a year or taking optional title defenses one after another. If the 6’7” Vitali wants to keep his strap, he’s going to have to fight Stiverne. I could see Vitali losing that fight, and then Deontay moving in to face Stiverne for the strap.
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