(Photo credit: Tom Casino/Showtime) By Thomas Cowan: Unbeaten American heavyweight Deontay Wilder (28-0, 28 KO’s) will be facing former WBO champion Siarhei Liakovich tonight in Indio, California. Wilder was going to fight Dereck Chisora in July, but that fell through because Wilder is not currently allowed to travel outside the States for legal reasons. Wilder said he would be facing a Russian heavyweight who was “much better than Chisora”. As it turned out, neither of these statements were true.
Liakovich is not from Russia, he’s from Belarus. Obviously, this doesn’t make him a bad opponent, I just wouldn’t let Deontay book his own flights if he’s flying to Europe anytime soon. The main disappointment though, is that Liakovich isn’t a good opponent.