Just who will Deontay Wilder fight next? We have heard (and got all excited about) the talks Wilder and Tyson Fury have had, and this massive fight could happen in November or December, or maybe not. Eddie Hearn for one is sceptical – telling everyone as much. Speaking with iFLTV last night, Hearn said that although he could be wrong, in his opinion the whole thing is a “publicity stunt” and nothing more.
Fury will not fight Wilder until he’s ready, Hearn stated, and he won’t be ready this year. So if Wilder doesn’t face Fury next, who will the WBC champ face? Hearn said that he has heard Luis Ortiz and Dominic Breazeale say they are fighting Wilder next, but the promoter added how this talk has not been heard in the media. Will we perhaps see a Wilder-Ortiz II, or will Wilder accommodate his WBC mandatory in Breazeale?
Interestingly according to Hearn the only response he received from his two cash offers for Wilder to fight Dereck Chisora, for $5 million, and Dillian Whyte, for $7 million, was one of laughter. Hearn is at a loss as to why Wilder and his team are laughing at these genuinely big-money offers. “I think he may have lost the plot,” Hearn said of Wilder.
We fans simply want to see more exciting heavyweight action, the kind we saw last weekend when Chisora rumble with Carlos Takam and Whyte slugged it out with Joseph Parker. We want to see Wilder involved in these type of great action fights; like the one he did give us when he last fought, against Ortiz back in March. What is Wilder waiting for? If it is that massive fight with Fury then great, but if that one does not get made, could it be Breazeale or Ortiz again, and if so when?
With the good money he has been offered by Hearn, it does seem strange that Wilder would turn it down (unless of course he is waiting to officially announce the Fury fight). Maybe Wilder really cannot stand the idea of working with Hearn – even if it would mean he would make more money for a single fight than at any previous time in his career.
As for Whyte, Hearn said that he will fight again in December; maybe against Chisora in a rematch or maybe against Jarrell Miller. The plan is for Anthony Joshua to get past Alexander Povetkin and then fight Wilder next April for all the belts. If this doesn’t happen, Hearn said, it will be Joshua-Whyte II at Wembley on April 13.
