We await Deontay Wilder’s ring return with great interest. It’s been a year since we last saw the former WBC heavyweight champ in the ring, and as everyone knows, it was not a good night for “The Bronze Bomber,” Wilder’s alter ego, nor was it a good night for Wilder the real person. And since the 7th round stoppage loss at the hands of Tyson Fury, things have got even worse. Wilder still insists he won the first fight with Fury, that he knocked him out in that 12th round, while the 35-year-old has honestly and truthfully come out with every excuse in the book in an effort to explain the second fight. In fact, Wilder might have come out with enough material to fill a new book in as far as excuses for losing a boxing match go.
There is a new interview with Wilder over on Marcus Watson Live, and along with again insisting he “hands down” won the first fight with Fury, Wilder said he is going to come back and “clean out the division.” A fan could be excused for asking, ‘which division?’ Wilder did speak some time ago of his desire to drop down to cruiserweight and win belts there. But all jokes aside, can Wilder possibly come again and, as he declares he will do, “go to the top?”
We have no idea how much that Fury beat-down took out of Wilder (although he have an idea that the loss affected his mental state big time). Wilder, 42-1-1(41) remains a big name and fans do want to see him back. A huge puncher is always a huge attraction, even a bad loser of a huge and exciting puncher. Wilder was pressed by Fight Hub on the subject of who he would like to fight when he does return to the squared circle (this after Wilder was asked who, of the retired greats of yesteryear, he would loved to have shared a ring with – Wilder stating how it would have been three guys from his home town of Alabama: Joe Louis, Evander Holyfield and Earnie Shavers. You have your own opinion on how those fights would have gone!)
“Without naming the obvious [Fury], I would love to fight guys I haven’t fought, the guys at the top that I haven’t got my hands on,” Wilder said. “That’s what I want. It’s kind of lame to not name names, but anyone I haven’t faced who is at the top, I want you. Anyone’s who is at the top and who people strongly want to see me fight, that’s who I want. I could sit here and name names all day. But I’m just going to the top. I want to clean the division out, period.”
If he can come back with a win over a decent opponent (Charles Martin’s name keeps popping up as far as Wilder’s comeback foe goes or might go), Wilder against the likes of Andy Ruiz, Dillian Whyte (if he can defeat Alexander Povetkin in their upcoming return fight), even Luis Ortiz in a third fight would be fights fans would want to see. But until he can prove he’s still a capable, serious and well-balanced fighter and person, all this is just talk. Just like those Dream Fight scenarios Wilder was asked to come up with.
It will, most fans agree, take one amazing comeback for Wilder to once again reach the top. At age 35, after 12 years in the ring, how much time has Wilder got left with which to “clean the division out?”