Deontay Wilder back in the gym training

By Boxing News - 08/03/2022 - Comments

By Brian Webber: Badou Jack posted of what appears to be a trimmed-down former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder on social media on Tuesday.

The 6’7″ Wilder (42-2-1, 41 KOs) looks nothing like the overbulked 230+ lb fighter he was in his last two fights against Tyson Fury. In those fights, Wilder surprisingly gassed out early, letting the 6’9″ Fury take advantage of his poor stamina by clubbing him into submission

For Wilder to be the fighter that he was in his best years, he’s got to have his weight in the 215 to 219 region. He loses too much of his natural speed advantage when he bulks up to the 230s, as he did in his last two fights with Fury.

There’s a lot of speculation that Wilder is returning to the ring to face the winner of the September 4th fight between Andy Ruiz Jr and Luis Ortiz. Those two are battling in a WBC heavyweight title eliminator on FOX Sports PPV.

If Wilder elects to take the Ruiz-Ortiz winner, it would be a WBC final eliminator, placing the victor in the position to challenge for the WBC title against the last man standing from the Anthony Joshua vs. Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury fights.

There would be a ton of interest from the boxing world if Deontay were the one that faced the last man standing in the Joshua-Usyk and Fury fights. Needless to say, Wilder would make it exciting for as long as the fight lasted due to his speed, size, and quickness.

The Alabama native likely won’t need to worry too much about facing Fury again because the big Brit is expected to hang up his gloves after he fights the Joshua vs. Usyk 2 winner. It’s believed that Fury is merely hanging around for that big money fight before he rides off into the sunset once and for all.

Wilder would have a chance of beating even Fury if he comes into the fourth fight with him around 212 lbs like he did in their first contest in 2018. Deontay knocked Fury out cold in the 12th, only to have the referee choose not to wave the fight off.

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