Where is Deontay Wilder? Will Wilder fight again? Why isn’t Wilder a part of the big March 8 card in Saudi Arabia? These are some of the questions fans have been asking regarding the former WBC heavyweight champion, this since last Monday’s press conference officially announcing “Knockout Chaos.”
There was a time, not long ago, when Wilder was the heavyweight to come see fight if you wanted to see KO chaos. But then, in his last fight, this in December, Wilder looked a shell of himself, and he looked out of shells and out of bullets, as he was comprehensively outboxed over 12 somewhat weird rounds by Joseph Parker. It was thought Wilder would look to come back with a bang and that he would get his chance to do so on the March 8 card in Riyadh.
There was talk of Wilder returning to fight Zhilei Zhang, but Parker took that fight instead. And Wilder? Nothing. For now at least. But as much as many fans want to see Wilder come back, one very powerful man with seemingly limitless funds for making fight cards also wants to see Wilder come back.
Turki Alalshikh, speaking with DAZN, said a fight between Wilder and Anthony Joshua (which was actually signed, the fight reliant on both AJ and Wilder winning their respective fights of December 23, and we saw what happened there, with Joshua beating Otto Wallin, with Wilder losing to a switched-on Parker) – can still happen. But time is “running out,” Alalshikh said.
“We don’t want to waste time,” Alalshikh said with regards to making the big fights he and his team want to make. “Tyson Fury is 35 now, Anthony Joshua is 34, Oleksandr Usyk is 37, Deontay Wilder is 38, Artur Beterbiev is 39 next week. We are losing time. The people need to see Fury versus Joshua, Joshua versus Wilder – I mean, I hope Wilder comes back. The fight between Joshua and Wilder [was signed]. But you see the result [Parker beating Wilder] and the body of condition of Wilder now, so it would not be reasonable to have that fight now. We want him to come back.”
Again, plenty of fans felt Wilder would come back on the March 8 card, but no. There promises to be additional stacked cards in Saudi Arabia over the coming months, so Wilder could face a big name on one of these future cards. But as Alalshikh says, time is running out. Do we still want to see Joshua-Wilder? Maybe, if Wilder can bounce back with a big comeback win. But until then, there are far more exciting-looking heavyweight fights being made and to be made.
But as exciting as he is, or was, Wilder will be afforded a chance to come back, this from Alalshikh. But does Wilder want it any longer?