Deontay Wilder’s options for next fight more limited now

By Boxing News - 11/06/2013 - Comments

deontay891By Scott Gilfoid: With WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko poised to make an announcement about his next title defense in the next week or two, #3 WBC heavyweight contender Deontay Wilder (30-0, 30 KO’s) now sees his chances for a fight against Bermane Stiverne for the vacant WBC title as nonexistent now.

That’s the fight that Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer was hoping to put together in the 1st quarter of 2014 once Vitali vacated his belt or had it stripped from him by the World Boxing Council. But with Vitali showing up at the WBC’s 51st convention in Bangkok, Thailand, he’s made it clear that he intends on keeping his WBC title for a little while longer.

This means that Deontay will have to look in another direction for his next fight. He recently said that he wants to fight 6’5″ heavyweight contender Tony Thompson next if he’s game, but I’m not sure that Thompson is unless Golden Boy makes it worthwhile for him by luring him with a ton of loot to take the fight. Getting Thompson to agree to a risky fight against a talent like Deontay may prove to be all but impossible unless Golden Boy waives a lot of green stuff under Thompson’s nose to take the fight. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind taking the fight for a $100,000 or so but I don’t think Golden Boy is going to be able to come up with that kind of cash for a fight between Deontay and Thompson unless it were to be a main event type of scenario.

If Golden Boy can’t get Thompson to agree to take the fight then things are going to become a little more desperate because there aren’t too many big names in the division for him to fight. I wouldn’t mind seeing Deontay face the likes of Manuel Charr or Dereck Chisora, but getting those guys to come over to the U.S to fight Deontay will likely prove to be impossible. And you can’t expect Deontay, the more popular fighter, to go to their home countries to fight them. I mean, they would be the opponents for Deontay and little more than that, and you’re not going to get Golden Boy agreeing to have Deontay fight in England or Germany against a non-star. I think Golden Boy would gladly agree to having Deontay fight in the UK if it were against David Haye, but I sure as heck don’t see them willing to have him go to the UK to fight someone like Chisora because it’s not worth it.



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