WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder has had a really tough time trying to get an opponent for his voluntary defense on January 16th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. An opponent that was reportedly close to signing for the Wilder fight, Vyacheslav Glazkov, opted to walk away from the fight and go a much easier route by fighting for the IBF heavyweight title that was stripped from Tyson Fury earlier Tuesday.
Now it seems that 43-year-old Shannon Briggs is the lasted fighter to turn down a title shot against the 6’7” Wilder. According to Dan Rafael, the money wasn’t what they were looking for.
“I’m told Shannon Briggs was offered the fight with Wilder also but rejected it because his side was asking for around $2 million. #boxing,” Rafael said on his Twitter.
Briggs (59-6-1, 52 KOs) could get big money if he can land a fight against champion Tyson Fury or Wladimir Klitschko if he’s able to win back his titles in a rematch against Fury. Briggs told TMZ.com that he asked for $2 million for a fight against Deontay, but his management came back with an offer of $400,000, which is far below Briggs’ asking price.
Wilder probably couldn’t even get $2 million for a fight against Briggs. It would probably need to be a pay-per-view fight on Showtime in order for the kind of money that Briggs wants to be dug up by Wilder’s management. I don’t think the interest would be high enough for the fight to bring in huge ratings ether.
Wilder brings in good ratings for his fights on Showtime and Premier Boxing Champions, but he’s not someone that can bring in the ratings of the big names like Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, which is what he would need to be able to do in order for a fight against Briggs to be sold on PPV.
With Briggs’ name out of the running for a fight against Wilder, it leaves 43-year-old Amir Mansour as a possibility for the fight. However, that’s a dangerous fight for Wilder, and it might not be what he and his adviser Al Haymon have in mind as a proper tune-up to get him ready for his mandatory title defense against #1 WBC Alexander Povetkin early 2016. Mansour has the kind of punching power that could lead him to an upset win over Deontay if he can land one of his big shots flush.