Deontay Wilder now ranked #6 WBA, #7 WBO

By Boxing News - 07/15/2013 - Comments

deontay32By Scott Gilfoid: Undefeated heavyweight contender Deontay Wilder (28-0, 28 KO’s) has been moved up two spots in the World Boxing Association rankings to #6 WBA, and he’s also been moved up to #7 WBO. What this means of course is that the talented 6’7” Deontay is within striking distance of getting a heavyweight title shot against IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (60-3, 51 KO’s).

It doesn’t mean that Wladimir will select him rather than some of the other guys ranked ahead of him likely below him, but it does show that Deontay is now getting close. If he can destroy former WBO heavyweight champion Siarhei Liakhovich (25-5, 16 KO’s) in their fight next month on August 9th at the Fantasy Springs Casino, in Indio, California, USA, we could see Deontay pushed up even higher in the rankings.

What Golden Boy needs to do is get Deontay back in the ring quickly after his fight with Liakovich and let him get a nice scalp from one of the top contenders like Denis Boytov or Alexander Ustinov, and that’ll really push him up the rankings quick.

It’s very likely that Deontay won’t get a title shot against Wladimir until he’s the mandatory challenger and Wladimir has exhausted his optional title defenses to get around the Deontay fight. Once all those maneuverings are over with, Deontay will be getting a title shot. But he’s going to have to fight a lot and/or beat some two or three top contenders to get locked in as Wladimir’s mandatory, because I can see Wladimir ignoring Deontay until he’s the mandatory.

This isn’t going to be one of those things were handpicks one of the fringe contenders like Jean Marco Mormeck, Francesco Pianeta or Mariusz Wach. Deontay won’t get picked out like that because he hits so much harder than those fighters and he’s capable of making up for what he lacks in talent and experience by clocking Wladimir with a big right hand.



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