Deontay Wilder: “Oleksandr Usyk Fight Will Still Happen”

Deontay Wilder named Oleksandr Usyk as the remaining opponent that still holds his attention, and he did so entirely in his own words, without leaning on belts, rankings, or sanctioning order.

Speaking to BoxingScene, Wilder described the Usyk fight as something he has long expected rather than something he is chasing now.

“I think it is a fight that will happen,” Wilder said. “He’s already strongly mentioned that I’m the last piece of the puzzle. And I think I agree as well.”

Wilder was careful to strip away any suggestion that Usyk needs him for validation.

“It ain’t the point that he have to have me, to put on his legacy, to have outstanding accomplishments in the business, because he already has that without me.”

Instead, Wilder placed the idea inside a shared time frame, not a title path.

“I understand what he’s saying of our era, being able to fight everybody in our era and compete against them, because I want to do the same thing.”

That thought stayed with him. Wilder returned to it as something personal rather than contractual.

“That’s a beautiful thing to be able to offer all the best that was in the era to come and then leave,” he said.

He explained why that thinking does not land with most observers.

“Only a fighter will understand that as being a warrior,” Wilder said. “It’ll be a lot of talk, ‘Why you doing that? You got money. You got the success. Why?’ I mean, but you’re not a warrior.”

Wilder made clear he does not see this as pressure on Usyk, nor as a demand.

“I totally understand where he’s coming from with that, and I hold him to his word.”

There was no timetable attached. No insistence. Just belief that the fight belongs to the same chapter.

From a boxing standpoint, the gap between idea and reality remains wide. Usyk controls pace, angles, and sustained movement. Those traits punish heavyweights who depend on timing and power. For Wilder, the immediate task is Chisora. If that fight goes wrong, the Usyk talk stops on its own. If it goes right, the idea survives as Wilder intends it to be. A meeting of two fighters trying to close their era properly.