By Charles Brun: When former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder returns, Mike Tyson says he wants him to take on unified champion Oleksandr Usyk.
Wilder’s aggressive fighting style and his one-punch power would give him an excellent chance of beating Usyk. Unlike Joshua, the 6’7″ Deontay won’t waste time trying to outbox the 2012 Olympic gold medalist Usyk.
If Wilder does wind up facing Usyk after he defeats Anthony Joshua for the second time, he’s got to trim his weight back down to the low 220s because he looked sluggish & slow in his trilogy fight against Tyson Fury last October.
Wilder bulked up to a career-high 238-lbs, and he didn’t possess the cardio to carry that weight. After four rounds, Wilder gassed out and NEVER got his second wind.
That wasn’t because of what Fury was doing because he was fighting at a slow pace himself due to the 277 grizzly bear-like pounds he was carrying on his 6’9″ frame.
Wilder looked good inside the ring when he weighed 219 lbs for his rematch with Luis ‘King Kong’ Ortiz in November 2019. Wilder looked exceptional, weighing 212 lbs for his first fight with Fury in 2018.
Tyson assumes that Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs) will still be the IBF, WBA & WBO champion after his rematch with Anthony Joshua on July 23rd.
If that weren’t the case, Tyson would likely be suggesting that Wilder (42-2-1, 41 KOs) take on Joshua for the unified heavyweight championship.
WBC champion Tyson Fury said last Saturday night that he wants Wilder to fight for his world title after he vacates it.
Usyk first needs to beat Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs) again in July for Mike Tyson’s hope for a Usyk-Wilder fight can take place.
“I think Deontay Wilder should fight Oleksandr Usyk. That’d be good. Wilder will be aggressive trying to knock him out,” said Mike Tyson to Hotboxin.
It will not be easy for Usyk to win the rematch with the highly motivated Joshua, but assuming he does come out victorious, a match between him and Wilder makes sense.
Usyk will need a high-profile opponent to fight after he beats Joshua again, and it would make no sense for AJ’s promoter Eddie Hearn to set up a trilogy match at that time between those two.
If Joshua loses the rematch, Hearn needs to try and rebuild him against domestic level opposition rather than throw his career away by agreeing with his wish to fight Usyk yet again.
Wilder, 36, hasn’t responded yet to confirm that he’ll be returning to the ring after his loss to Fury last October. However, World Boxing Council president Mauricio Sulaiman said this week that he’s certain Deontay will be back.
“He’s weighing up his plans for the future,” said WBC president Sulaiman to Sky Sports. “I’m sure he’ll be back. He’s one of those fighters you rarely see in the ring who can knock somebody out with one punch.”
