By Jeff Aranow: WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder is hoping to make quick work of Polish fighter Andrzej Wawrzyk in their fight on February 25 so that he can return to the ring on April 8 to fight WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker (22-0, 18 KOs) in a unification fight.
Wilder (37-0, 36 KOs) says that if he doesn’t suffer any other hand injuries or any other injuries in his fight against the 6’5” Wawrzyk (33-1, 19 KOs), then he’ll be able to face the 25-year-old Parker for his WBO title in a unification fight.
Wilder and Wawrzyk will be fighting at the Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama. The fight will be televised on Premier Boxing Champions on Fox. The fans have yet to get excited about this match-up, which is becoming a norm for fights involving the 31-year-old Wilder. He’s not facing the guys that the boxing fans want to see him fight. He’s defending his WBC title against fringe level fighters over and over again since winning it two years ago in 2015.
“If all goes well with this fight I have in February, I have no injuries and my hand is healed and can take 100 per cent impact on it as well, then I want that fight (Parker) next,” Wilder told 78SPORTSTV. “They are talking about fighting in April and I’d love to come back and fight again in April!”
If Parker’s management has to wait until the end of February to find out if Wilder is able to get through the Wawrzyk fight without injury, it could make it tough to promote the Wilder-Parker fight. It would be a rush job, because Parker wants to get back into the ring on April 8.
If Wilder is going to be busy until February 25 when he faces Wawrzyk, it leaves very little time to promote a unification match between Wilder and Parker. Unless Parker and his promoters really want Wilder’s World Boxing Council title to add to their collection, they almost have to choose someone else for the April 8 date. They can’t wait until the end of February to find out what happens with Wilder’s fight against Wawrzyk. It’s not that Wilder won’t win. It’s more of a situation where he could blow out his right hand again or his right biceps. Wilder injured both in his last fight against Chris Arreola. He also injured the same hand in his win over Bermane Stiverne in 2015.
“A lot of fighters wouldn’t do it, come straight back … but I want to make a great impression in 2017,” said Wilder . If all goes well with this fight, I wouldn’t mind turning right around and coming back and fighting Joseph Parker to unify the division with his WBO belt and my WBC belt, and do it that way.”
Wilder would be better not putting too much hope in a fight against Parker. Wilder needs to start facing good opposition, because he’s had too many poor opponents since winning the WBC belt.
Last December, Parker defeated Andy Ruiz Jr. by a 12 round decision to win the vacant WBO heavyweight title. Parker fought in front of his own boxing fans at the Vector Arena in Auckland, New Zealand. It was not one of Parker’s better performances in his career, as he appeared to lose the fight in the minds of a lot of fans. This writer had Ruiz Jr. winning the first five rounds, and at least three or the last six rounds. It was not vintage Parker with him struggling against a faster Ruiz Jr.