By Allan Fox: Deontay Wilder is rumored to be facing #2 WBC Dominic Breazeale for his next title defense of his WBC heavyweight belt instead of #1 WBC Dillian Whyte. Breazeale is a fight that will attract a lot more interest in the U.S than the little-known Whyte, who has his entire career in the UK.
His recent fight against former WBA heavyweight champion Lucas Browne was televised in the U.S last Saturday night on HBO Boxing, but it was likely not seen by too many fans. Whyte’s promoter Eddie Hearn talked a lot last Saturday night about his plans on making the fight against Wilder in June, but that doesn’t seem likely. Whyte is not the WBC mandatory, so Wilder can fight whoever he wants.
Hearn blurted that he wants Wilder to come over to the UK to defend his WBC title against Whyte. That was clearly a blunder on Hearn’s part, because there’s no way Wilder would come over to the UK to defend his title and risk being robbed against Whyte.
Breazeale is a very risky fight for Wilder. He’s got the size, power and the boxing skills to pull off an upset of the 6’7” Wilder if he can get to his chin the way Luis Ortiz did. Breazeale can reach Wilder with his huge size. That means that Wilder is going to have to fight with a lot more courage against Breazeale than he did against Ortiz if he doesn’t want to lose.
The WBC might order Breazeale to face Whyte in a final eliminator bout. However, Wilder can always lock the 32-year-old Breazeale down as his opponent for his next title defense in the summer, since it’s clear that Hearn doesn’t want to let his fighter IBF/WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua fight Wilder next.
The 6’7” Breazeale has similar height as Wilder, who is also 6’7”, and a 2008 Olympic bronze medalist for the U.S. Breazeale competed in the 2012 Olympics, although he failed to medal in the competition. Breazeale is coming off two impressive stoppage wins over Eric Molina and Izuagbe Ugonoh. Breazeale’s fight with the 6’5” Ugonoh was a real war with both fighters hitting the deck. Breazeale knocked Ugonoh down three times in the fight in dropping him once in round 3 and twice in round 5.
Breazeale was knocked down hard in round 4, and he came close to being stopped. Before those two fights, Breazeale was knocked out in the 7th round by Anthony Joshua in June 2016. Breazeale talked a big game beforehand, but then he failed to let his hands go and attack Joshua the way he needed to do for him to have a chance of winning the fight. Breazeale has had other wins over Fred Kassi and Amir Mansour. Breazeale was knocked down by Mansour in round 3, but he came back to win the fight by a 5th round stoppage. Breazeale’s 10 round unanimous decision win over Fred Kassi in September 2015 was a controversial one in which it appeared that he was beaten. It wasn’t a popular decision with boxing fans. They thought Breazeale lost the fight.
Breazeale is on the same level as Wilder’s last opponent Luis Ortiz in the talent department. Ortiz was a better fighter in his prime, but he’s gotten old and he’s not the fighter he was four years ago. Breazeale has respectable power in his right hand. If he lands one of his power shots on the button, he could hurt Wilder in the same way Ortiz did in the 7th round.
Whyte would have a lot of problems with Breazeale. That would be a different story than his mismatch against the slow and old 38-year-old Lucas Browne last Saturday. Whyte stopped Browne in the 6th round, but it was a mismatch. Browne looked out of shape, slow and old. The fight was won for Whyte the moment the contract with signed. You’ve got to give credit for Hearn for spotting Browne and seeing him as the ideal opponent for Whyte.
Breazeale has many advantages for Wilder over Whyte. First off, Wilder doesn’t need to have to travel to the UK to fight the American Breazeale. That fight can take place in New York where Wilder draws large crowds. Wilder won’t have to go looking for Breazeale the way that he would with Whyte, who has become more defensive fighter since taking a beating at the hands of Dereck Chisora in 2016. Breazeale has improved a lot since his loss to Joshua. It might not be as easy for Wilder to destroy Breazeale as Joshua did in 2016. Breazeale looked frightened to let his hands go against Joshua, and that cost him the fight. What little chance Breazeale had of winning the fight went out the window with him not throwing punches.
Despite having a really tough time beating Ortiz by a 10th round knockout on March 3, Wilder can’t take a soft job for his next defense, because Showtime Boxing are going to want to see him face a quality opponent. Breazeale is perfect. He’s got as much talent as Whyte, but he’s from the U.S and Wilder won’t be forced to fight in the UK in defending is WBC title.
If Wilder doesn’t fight Breazeale, then someone like Carlos Takam would be a good option. Showtime might green light a fight between Wilder and Takam. He’s one of Joshua’s recent opponents. He was stopped in the 10th round last October by AJ. The downside of Wilder defending against Takam is the fact that he hasn’t fought since his loss to Joshua. Takam getting another title shot straightaway would look bad in the eyes of the boxing public.
Whyte could become Wilder’s mandatory challenger soon. But Wilder will likely get a unification fight against Joshua before the World Boxing Council orders him to defend against Whyte. If Hearn decides to keep Joshua away from fighting Wilder for the remainder of the year, then it puts him in position where he may need to fight Whyte before he faces AJ in a unification. Hearn would have to be very frightened of Wilder for him to not match him against Joshua this year.