By Scott Gilfoid: #1 WBC Deontay Wilder (31-0, 31 KOs) will be taking a huge risky fight on August 16th when he fights in a 10 round bout at the StubHub Center, in Carson, California, USA.
It’s a risky fight because if Deontay loses, he can forget about getting a world title shot in November or December against WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne. Deontay is the mandatory challenge for Stiverne, but he’s been waiting, and waiting for the fight for ages and he doesn’t want to stay out of the ring any longer.
Deontay hasn’t fought since last March when he obliterated Malik Scott in one round. That means Deontay would have been looking at a time frame of 8-9 months before he fought again if he chose to sit and wait on Stiverne.
“I wanted to take the risk. I feel like it was good to stay active,” Deontay said to the Tuscaloosanews.com. “Usually around this time I’ve fought four times. I’m at my best when I’m active so I feel it was necessary to take the fight and get in the ring.”
I totally agree with Deontay. It’s good that he’s staying busy, and he should probably think about fighting in September as well, because there’s no telling when Stiverne will be ready to fight due to his hand injury.
Deontay can’t be sitting idle for ages rusting away waiting for the 35-year-old Stiverne to finally be injury free so that he can resume training.
Deontay will likely KO his opponent in the 1st round on August 16th no matter who they find. Mike Sheppard has been mentioned as one possible opponent, but he’s not likely to get the fight because there’s talk that Deontay wants someone else.
It would be good to see Deontay face someone like Tony Thompson, Manuel Charr, Shannon Briggs, or Andy Ruiz. However, getting any of those guys to agree to fight Deontay in an off TV fight with a little over a week’s notice is going to be impossible.
No one that you can call a good heavyweight is going to want to fight Deontay with that little time to prepare, especially when the fight won’t be on television and there won’t be a ton of money involved.
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