Deontay Wilder replaced by ‘most avoided heavyweight’ on Terence Crawford undercard
Deontay Wilder will no longer be competing on the Israil Madrimov vs Terence Crawford undercard on August 3.
However, ‘The Bronze Bomber’ was knocked out in the fifth round by Zhang last weekend, spelling an end to Alalshikh’s plans.
It now seems highly likely that Wilder will hang up his gloves after admitting before the fight that defeat could spell the end of his career.
But one man’s loss is another man’s gain – and Martin Bakole has now been given the call to face Anderson instead.
The Congolese boxer has been steadily climbing up the heavyweight rankings after falling to defeat for the first and only time in his 21-fight (20-1) career against Michael Hunter in 2018.
Bakole recently recorded a career-best win against former world title challenger Carlos Takam in October.
However, he has struggled to land a big fight since.
He was in negotiations to face Joe Joyce next but according to his trainer and manager Billy Nelson, ‘The Juggernaut’ pulled out of the fight to pursue a domestic dust-up with Derek Chisora on July 27.
The difficulty of finding a fight for Bakole has led to his promoter Ben Shalom branding him ‘the most avoided heavyweight’ on the planet.
“Martin Bakole is the most avoided man in the glamour division and can beat every heavyweight on the planet on his day,” he wrote in his exclusive talkSPORT column.
“The Congolese puncher is an incredibly dangerous fight for anyone at his weight.
“He has all of the physical attributes needed to reach the top of the sport.
“His stamina is excellent, he’s extremely strong and on top of all of that, he is a very good boxer.
“It’s only a matter of time before he will be dining at the top table with the likes of Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk.”
His next outing against Anderson will prove whether Bakole is really as good as Shalom suggests.
Anderson (17-0) is one of the most exciting young up-and-coming heavyweights in the world right now.
A number of media outlets have branded him ‘a heavyweight world champion in waiting’ while Tyson Fury – who has sparred with Anderson several times – is tipping him as the ‘heir to his throne’.
If Bakole can derail the hype train then he will find himself in a very strong position to challenge for world titles down the line.
Tyson Fury has already made feelings clear on Deontay Wilder conqueror Zhilei Zhang
Zhilei Zhang‘s star continues to rise after a decisive knockout win over Deontay Wilder – but Tyson Fury has been aware of his talents for some time.
While most boxers tend to fade after 35, Zhang has enjoyed a career resurgence despite being way past that mark already. And the 41-year-old celebrated the biggest result of his career to date following a relentless fifth-round KO of the Bronze Bomber on Saturday.
That result in Riyadh has dramatically opened up Zhang’s prospects, with a potential bout against Anthony Joshua even being touted. However, newly crowned interim IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois is also in that conversation following his own stoppage victory over Filip Hrgovic.
Fury, 35, has his own next fight in the books already after agreeing to rematch Oleksandr Usyk, who took his undefeated record in May. And The Gypsy King paid Zhang hefty praise after previously comparing the two heavyweight rivals.
Speaking to Dev Shani for Queensberry Promotions in September 2023, he said of Zhang: “I think he’s a very tough opponent and he’s a big southpaw punching man. He’s not like Usyk, a feather duster jibbing and jabbing around the ring. This man is trying to take your brains out. He’s 6ft 6in and twenty stone. He’s a very different customer and very dangerous.”
That same “feather duster” disproved that theory to a large extent after scoring a split-decision win over Fury in Saudi Arabia. However, his appraisal of 27-2-1 Zhang could be more accurate given Joshua, 34, appears to be leaning away from the Chinese star.
AJ was being teed up for a cross-Atlantic clash with Wilder, but that bout now looks impossible given the 38-year-old has lost four of his last five fights. Instead, he appeared more open to an all-British affair against countryman Dubois.
“I’ve got to pick them off one by one. It’s not going to be easy, but that’s my mentality,” said Joshua in light of his new prospects. “So come one, come all.… He [Dubois] has worked his way up the ladder, we’ll see what happens in the near future.”
Perhaps former world champion Joshua has even seen Fury’s assessment of Zhang and taken heed of those words. Not that the knockout merchant’s latest big victory wasn’t enough to send a very clear message regarding the threat he poses.
Deontay Wilder vs Jared Anderson is being targeted for a summer showdown in Los Angeles.
Saudi boxing chief Turki Alalshikh confirmed on social media on Monday night that he is hoping to match up the Americans on the undercard of Terence Crawford vs Israil Madrimov in August provided Wilder is ready in time after his fight against Zhilei Zhang in June.
Taking to X, Alalshikh posted a photo of him and Anderson together, with the caption: “The talented Jared Anderson is with us now on August 3rd Riyadh Season card at LA against the ‘Bronze Bomber’ Deontay Wilder – if he’s ready by then to fight after [his fight on 1 June] against Zhilei Zhang.
“I always believe that boxing would be at its peak when you have young American heavyweights like Jared Anderson which I also believe in his talent and his promising future.
“My advice to him ‘Focus on your future, training, and commitment and you will reach to your goals’.
“Happy to collaborate with Top Rank again – Riyadh Season card 3rd of August in LA, will be one for the history!”
Anderson is widely considered to be one of the most exciting young prospects in the heavyweight division.
The 24-year-old has barely put a foot wrong in the paid ranks (besides a wobbly moment against Charles Martin last year) and currently holds an impressive undefeated 17-0 record.
Many media outlets have branded him ‘a heavyweight world champion in waiting’ while Fury – who has sparred Anderson several times – is tipping him as the ‘heir to his throne’.
Earlier this month, Anderson talked up a fight with ‘The Bronze Bomber’ and it now appears he may get what he wants.
“I respect Deontay,” he said. “I think he has one hell of a punch.
“But he can’t beat me, and I’m just going to leave it at that. I’m too much of a well-rounded boxer, and I’m going to beat him in great fashion.
“The biggest thing they’ve been telling me is to stay the course and continue to try to get better every day.
“So that when they do pop up with that big name to put me on the map for the world to see, that I am 100-percent ready, and that I don’t have to get ready.”
Wilder is looking to rebuild his career after a dismal display against Joseph Parker at the back end of last year.
Wilder looked like a shadow of his former self as he was thoroughly outboxed by the Kiwi at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The former WBC heavyweight world champion was heavily criticised for his gunshy approach to the contest.
However, he insists the ‘killer’ is back ahead of his summer showdown with Zhang.
Frank Warren has questioned if Deontay Wilder can recover from his shock defeat to Joseph Parker in their ‘Day of Reckoning’ showdown. Parker completely dominated the ‘Bronze Bomber’ in their fight last month, and the result means it is less likely that Wilder will seal a long-awaited meeting with Anthony Joshua. Warren said Wilder looked like a “shot fighter”.
Boxing promoter Frank Warren has warned Deontay Wilder that his career could be “over” if he doesn’t put on a better performance in his next fight.
The American was far from his best in his shock defeat to Joseph Parker at ‘Day of Reckoning’ in Saudi Arabia last month.
Parker dominated Wilder for the majority of the fight and came away victorious by unanimous decision.
Speaking to talkSPORT, Warren fears that Wilder’s best days are behind him after his disappointing loss.
“I did think at the end of the day, he looked like a shot fighter to me,” he said.
“That’s how he looked. And he’s come out with various reasons behind the scenes, which I’ve heard, but the proof has got to be in the pudding.
“If he comes back and has another fight, he certainly can’t have another performance like that because it will all be over.
“I think he’s got a big struggle to get himself back into it. If he decides he wants to do that, I think he’s got a big struggle because he certainly wasn’t at the races.”
Wilder’s defeat means that he is unlikely to face Anthony Joshua in a highly-anticipated showdown later this year.
Joshua and Wilder had – according to some reports – agreed to fight on March 9, providing they beat their respective opponents – Otto Wallin and Parker.
Joshua put on an impressive performance in Riyadh to stop Wallin after five rounds, but Wilder couldn’t keep his side of the bargain.
Following the bout, Wilder reignited speculation that he could face the Brit but Warren said the fight depends on the American and not Joshua.
“AJ-Wilder? To resurrect that there’s got to be some sort of outstanding performance from Wilder,” Warren added.
Similarly to Wilder, Joshua was also confident that the mouth-watering fight between the pair could still go ahead.
“I could rip him for all the things he’s said about me but I’ll take the higher ground,” Joshua said after his win over Wallin.
“He can come back. I’m sure everyone still wants to see that fight.”
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JEFF POWELL: Anthony Joshua has relatively easy work ahead to return to a world title as he looks more like the old AJ… and now will he fight Tyson Fury or Oleksandr Usyk next winter?
Anthony Joshua looked back to the old AJ in beating Otto Wallin on Saturday
2024 could see two Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk fights – before a date for AJ
Anthony Joshua rolled back the years. Deontay Wilder rolled up the carpet.
So complex are the ironies of big-time boxing that AJ – instead of pocketing one hundred million dollars from two sand-shoe shuffles with the broken Bronze Bomber – will be offered a shortcut to a third world heavyweight title.
Deep down – since he already has ten times more millions to his account than the 15 children Wilder and Tyson Fury have sired between them – this is what Joshua may prefer.
In the final reckoning legacy, respect, history and all that come down to all you put into the record books. Not how much into your bank.
If in Riyadh on Saturday night Wilder had continued proving himself the most lethal puncher since Iron Mike Tyson instead of feebly losing all 12 rounds to Kiwi Joseph Parker, then the desert sun would have risen over a very different landscape.
Now the two-fight contract with Wilder lies gathering dust in the Saudi Kingdom while Joshua contemplates the prospect of meeting one Filip Hrgovic for a vacant IBF world championship.
So contrary is this particular sanctioning body that they are expected to strip their belt from the winner of the February 17 fight between Fury and Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed world heavyweight championship for which boxing has been begging the last two decades.
While those two go back to Saudi for a rematch in the summer, the IBF will insist on their mandatory challenger getting his shot.
Step up Croatia’s Hrgovic, who kept his nose clean on Saturday with an instant stoppage of hapless Australian fall guy Mark De Mori. More relatively easy work for Joshua, now he has got his mojo back.
No, Otto Wallin is no longer the same Swedish basher who once gave Fury a gashed eye and a headache. But yes, Joshua did look more like the old AJ who pounded his way to Olympic gold and two world heavyweight titles.
The aggression which evaporated after he was knocked out by Mexico’s roly-poly Andy Ruiz Jr returned. As did the fluency of forward movement, the ramrod left jab, the bone-shaking rights. Most importantly of all the confidence as he bullied his way through the first four rounds before referee Steve Gray and Wallin’s corner men agreed their man had suffered punishment enough.
The trainers played significant roles in the bill-topping fights. Ben Davison coaxed Joshua out of his negative mindset and on to the front once more. Andy Lee not only brought former world champion Parker back to title contention but also into the best performance of his life.
It gives hope to us all that the likeable New Zealander benefited mentally also from sharing a few Jagermeisters as well invaluable sparring with his idol and friend Fury.
As for Wilder, after his retreat into Costa Rica’s eco jungle to sample the mystic powers of psychedelic drugs he boxed as if still in a nirvana trance.
When he raised an arm at the final bell as if expecting the gods to declare him triumphant he was still gazing at the moon. Parker won every round on one official card as well as mine and many others.
Not until the twelfth did he make any significant effort to land his right bazooka. Even then his timing was so far off that he couldn’t have punched his way out of a cobweb. Not even rust after only 50 seconds in the ring, for his last stoppage victory win since the third of his wars with Fury, can explain this away.
‘Perhaps I’ve found too much love in my life,’ Wilder muttered while hinting at retirement. That, he retracted later but whenever he returns to reality he will have to consider that at 38 he is unlikely ever to be the same deadly fighting man again. Highly unlikely, perhaps we should say. For Wilder the magic carpet ride looks to have crash-landed. For good.
With 2024 beginning to look like the last year of the Golden Oldies – with Fury and Usyk fighting each other twice and maybe the winner giving Joshua his hefty cash-out next winter – Daniel Dubois has found redemption just in time to be party to the succession.
Doubts raised about Dynamite Daniel’s stomach for the hardest game after his second taking of a knee, against Usyk, required answers.
He provided them by beating up Jarrell Miller, the man mountain almost as wide as he is tall, then stopping this belligerent and previously undefeated American brawler seconds before the end of the tenth and final round.
Criticism can sometimes be your best friend. A motivator to which a reborn Joshua and a redeemed Dubois have just borne witness.
Deontay Wilder says he will continue his boxing career in 2024.
The former WBC heavyweight champion previously suggested he could retire from the sport after suffering an upset loss to Joseph Parker in Saudi Arabia on Saturday night.
A win would’ve set Wilder up for a mega-money clash with Anthony Joshua, but their plans were scuppered when Parker picked up a unanimous decision victory at the Day of Reckoning.
After returning to his hotel room, ‘The Bronze Bomber’ hopped on social media to reflect on a third career defeat and insist his boxing career is not over.
“We came out short tonight,” Wilder said in a video on Instagram.
“You know what, I don’t know what happened, to be honest.
“My timing was off, and I didn’t throw my punches, I didn’t let my hands go like I was supposed to. Sometimes you get like that. But you live to see another fight. You live to see another moment.
“I’m still full of happiness, still full of joy, still full of smiles. Sorry if I let anyone down but we will be back though! That’s the thing about it.
“I thank you so much for the love and support I’ve got out here in Riyadh and from all my fans around the world. I appreciate you so much.
“This is not the end, and I will be back.”
Joshua, who beat Otto Wallin in the main event, remains open to the possibility of fighting Wilder – but his promoter, Eddie Hearn, suggested Filip Hrgovic could be next for AJ.
Hrgovic cemented his spot as the mandatory for Oleksandr Usyk’s IBF title by knocking out former David Haye opponent, Mark De Mori, inside one round earlier in the evening.
Joshua’s main goal right now is to become a three-time world champion.
So, he’ll ultimately be targeting the winner of Usyk’s undisputed fight with WBC champion Tyson Fury on February 17 or any of the belts they vacate ahead of a proposed rematch.
Anthony Joshua has accused domestic rival Tyson Fury of “ducking him” after signing to fight fellow heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk.
Fury and Usyk could fight for the undisputed world heavyweight title in Saudi Arabia as soon as December 23 but ‘The Gypsy King’ will first have to get past former UFC champion Francis Ngannou on October 28. The pair meet in a crossover fight that will go on both of their professional records and Ngannou has vowed to ruin any chance of the undisputed world title fight taking place at the end of the year.
Joshua reacted to Fury’s upcoming fights by telling DAZN: “I wish I could balance this, cause he’s ducking. He’s definitely a duck. Whether he’s ducking me, not right now, but he’s definitely a duck. That’s facts, like you can’t deny he’s a duck. So if we’re gonna pull out the animal cards I’m pulling out a duck with Fury.”
Ngannou has claimed he will be forced to fight Fury again in the shocking event that he pulls off the upset, whilst there is also reportedly a two-way rematch clause for his undisputed fight against Usyk. Fury recently labelled Joshua as a “bum-dosser” and mocked his professional defeats to Usyk and Andy Ruiz Jr.
“I don’t really care what he says. He’s a bum in my opinion. He’s just one big bum-dosser that has been knocked out three times. He’s been knocked out twice [once] and had three losses. He can’t even compare in my league any more. It’s not even a fight I am thinking about any more. I’m not even interested,” Fury told Mail Online.
“That bubble has been burst. His virginity has been taken away so it’s not interesting for me any more. He’s been spanked by Usyk twice and been beaten by a fat man. So it’s not in my interest to beat him.” Joshua picked up his first knockout win in over two years by stopping Robert Helenius in August and has since been linked to a fight against Deontay Wilder.
Joshua vs Wilder was being planned to take place on the same event as Fury vs Usyk, but the heavyweight showdown has been delayed yet again. Matchroom Boxing boss Eddie Hearn has guaranteed the mega-fight will take place in 2024 and thinks Joshua could also return to the ring in December to stay active.
Deontay Wilder has had his say on the upcoming undisputed world heavyweight title fight between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk, and the American believes that there will be one clear winner.
Wilder has previous experience facing Fury after the pair were involved in one of the best trilogies in recent memory. But the “Bronze Bomber” failed to overcome the Brit in any of these encounters after the first was drawn before being stopped by Fury in the two that followed.
While his next move is unknown, Wilder will have a keen eye on Fury vs. Usyk, and he believes the current WBC world heavyweight champion’s size will prove too much for the slick Ukrainian.
“Fury’s size is what makes him gain more success. When I see him against Usyk I see how they cheated [Steve] Cunningham with that clubbing, putting his weight on him and clubbing him, and I could see him doing the same thing with Usyk, putting his weight on him,” Wilder told Fight Hub TV.
“I do think Usyk has more skill, but when it comes to the size and stuff I don’t think he’ll be able to compete with the size of Fury. But who know’s that’s just my opinion.”
A date for Fury vs. Usyk is yet to be announced, but it has been confirmed that the fight will take place in Saudi Arabia.
Deontay Wilder made a startling admission about his power as the Tuscaloosa native discussed a potential return to the ring.
Wilder smashed Robert Helenius to pieces in October 2022, one year after ending his three-fight saga with Tyson Fury.
Despite promising to be active when unveiling a statue of himself in Alabama last year, “The Bronze Bomber” has only fought once in the twenty months since then.
His career will face a further hold as he participates in a reality TV show called “The Traitors” this fall on Peacock.
Deontay Wilder vows to return
As question marks continue over his ambition approaching his 38th birthday, Wilder still believes he will face all his rivals before retirement at 40.
Wilder says the big fights will happen despite his heavyweight title-chasing career continually stalling since this comeback victory.
“If you’re making money and can’t enjoy it, then people think differently,” Wilder told Frenzee Broadcasting. “So, I’ve had a lot of people throughout my career because of the power I possess.
“Of course, we have to say things. Certain guys have to put out there to make it seem like ‘I’m not running, I’m not a coward, I’m not scared.’”
On Andy Ruiz Jr. and others calling him out in the media, Wilder added: “Of course, their promoters and managers and even themselves would put things out.
“Emotional garbage is thrown, but in reality, they’re scared. I got a lot of guys right now. We could have made great money, but they dodged it.
“They don’t know that I know. They know deep down in their heart who it is. At this moment in time, no one is safe. All the great fights will happen before the end of my career.”
Asked about how he manifests his knockout ability, Wilder confessed that he doesn’t work on it at all.
“I don’t have to lift weights. If I had to fight myself, knowing that I have tremendous power. I don’t even have to exercise [to continue to be powerful],” he admitted.
Who will Wilder fight next?
Several options remain on the table for Wilder once he’s ready to ditch his TV career for a return to the squared circle. Ruiz, of course, is one despite the WBC negating their sanction of an eliminator.
Anthony Joshua is the obvious choice, given that he’s now ranked number two by the WBC. The World Boxing Council could even confirm Wilder vs Josuha as its following final stipulation at the upcoming WBC Convention,
The winner would face Tyson Fury in 2024, or the vacant title could be on the line.
A lot has to happen before then, with Wilder potentially looking at some of those further down the ratings to blow off the cobwebs.
