Former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder has been AWOL since a sharp decline in his boxing career in the last few years.
However, ‘The Bronze Bomber’ is done waiting on the sidelines, as he plans to do something even Jake Paul hasn’t yet. Wilder returns to action on June 27 against Tyrell Anthony Herndon at the Charles Koch Arena in Wichita with big hopes.
In the meantime, the boxing public has been abuzz about a potential fight between Wilder and former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou. The pair has been linked with each other for a while, mainly because of their status as the hardest hitters in boxing and MMA. While Wilder is returning to the squared circle with world championship dreams, he ended up revealing plans for the potential mega fight against Ngannou.
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“It’s a lot of things going on. I think that fight is still stirring up, we’re still talking about it,” Wilder told James Sweetnam of Bloody Elbow. “We’re just trying to get the structure of how that fight is going to go because certain things have been laid out, or I even have expressed my opinions,” Wilder revealed during the interview.
Wilder claimed that he is open to doing something even Jake Paul couldn’t, noting, “Me go in his backyard, as he come into mine. Certain things like that…,” he added. It’s worth noting that Paul is already signed with the PFL, but hasn’t leaped to fight in the MMA setting yet. Regardless, while nothing has been finalized, Wilder is sure about one thing: “I think that fight will be made.”
Wilder suffered two back-to-back losses to Joseph Parker and Zhilei Zhang in 2023 and 2024, which prompted many to urge the heavyweight to retire. On the other hand, Ngannou made his boxing debut in 2023 against Tyson Fury, losing the closely contested fight. However, his second boxing match ended with a brutal second-round knockout against Anthony Joshua.
Since then, he hasn’t appeared in the boxing ring, instead, he returned to MMA and defeated 2023 heavyweight champion Renan Ferreira to become the PFL Super Fights heavyweight champion. Regardless, Ngannou isn’t the only one on Wilder’s radar.
Deontay Wilder wants a shot at the undisputed champion
Deontay Wilder is eyeing one more run at the undisputed heavyweight championship as he prepares to face Tyrell Anthony Herndon in June. The 39-year-old former WBC champion isn’t calling this a comeback. “It’s never a comeback. It’s always just returning from the ring,” Wilder told BoxingScene. With a record of 43-4-1 (42 KOs), he still believes one win can change everything: “One fight, one night.”
Wilder isn’t naming names but is focused on anyone standing in his way. “If you get in my way, I want you. I want to take your head off,” he said. He acknowledges Oleksandr Usyk as the current king: “I mean, that’s who got the belts. So, you know, whether you want to agree or not.” Still, Wilder remains confident that with the right opportunity, he can finally achieve his long-standing goal of becoming an undisputed champion.
That said, Deontay Wilder seems open to a potential fight against Francis Ngannou in the future. However, that’s not the only fight on his radar. Can the Wilder-Ngannou fight happen? Absolutely! The only question is—when?
