By Charles Brun: Andre Ward disagrees with promoter Eddie Hearn’s recent comment that the ‘Bronze Bomber’ Deontay Wilder wouldn’t lose a round against IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk.
Ward says Wilder’s right hand will find its mark on Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) at some point in the fight, and he will win rounds.
Usyk is interested in fighting the popular former WBC heavyweight champion Wilder (42-2-1, 41 KOs) next, provided he gets by Robert Helenius on October 15th in their main event fight on FOX Sports pay-per-view at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn, New York.
If a journeyman like Dereck Chisora could come razor-close to defeating Usyk in October 2020, Wilder will find success against him as well.
“Yeah, right. That right hand is going to land at some point. Rounds will be won by Wilder,” said Andre Ward on Twitter in reacting to a comment from Eddie Hearn to Boxing Scene about Oleksandr Usyk not losing a round to Deontay Wilder if they fought.
It’s understandable why Hearn would make light of Wilder’s chances against Usyk because he just beat the British promoter’s flagship fighter Anthony Joshua twice in a row.
That’s Hearn’s #1 money-maker in his Matchroom Boxing stable, and it was obviously a crushing blow to have AJ’s ship scuttled by Usyk.
Those losses by Joshua have his career effectively on the brink of skidrow, and his likely defeat against Tyson Fury on December 3rd will be the tipping point.
Joshua is on the precipice right now, and one more defeat will finish him as a fighter. As such, it’s quite understandable why Hearn is talking down about Wilder because it makes Joshua look even worse if he’s able to score a knockout of Usyk.
Wilder has an excellent chance of beating Usyk because he’s going to find him at some point in the fight. Joshua landed a lot of his own power shots in their rematch on August 20th and had Usyk hurt in the ninth round.
If Wilder landed the same punches that Joshua did on Usyk, it’s reasonable to assume that he’ll finish him off.
That would obviously be bad for Tyson Fury because he has plans for fighting Usyk in February or March, but oh well. When you mess with the bull [Wilder], you get the horns.
