These days, heavyweights who are either approaching the age of 40 or who have passed the milestone age can still compete at an elite level. Some of them, anyway. It’s tough also for so many fighters to agree time is up and that retirement is the best option. As such, we can this year get ready to see 40-ish big men of the sport, such as Deontay Wilder, Joe Joyce, Kubrat Pulev, and Derek Chisora, fight on.
Wilder, we await a big announcement regarding his talked of April return, to come this Saturday in Los Angeles. Chisora, we know, will fight Otto Wallin next month, while Kubrat Pulev, who recently picked up a secondary (or third!) version of the WBA heavyweight title, is looking at his next fight, with names like Fabio Wardley reportedly interested in fighting the aging Bulgarian. While Joyce will return to action on March 1, this in his first fight back after losing an exciting battle with Chisora in the summer.
Joyce will face TBA, this on March 1st, on the under card of Ryan Garner’s European super featherweight title fight with Salvador Jimenez, the action to take place in Bournemouth.
Joyce, 16-3(15), has who knows what left to offer at this stage of his career, just as we don’t know how much of anything Wilder, Pulev, and Chisora have left right now. But on these veterans (and more, look at 59-year-old Oliver McCall, who will have fight-two in his wholly unlikely comeback later this month) will fight. The money is still good for a big name like Wilder especially, and as long as we fans continue to tune in, of course, these guys are gonna fight on.
It will be interesting to see who Joyce is matched with on March 1. On the one hand, anyone too tough and Joyce’s latest comeback will run the risk of being derailed at the first hurdle. On the other hand, Joyce is a big name, and fans will expect him to fight someone of at least a little notoriety, someone with some pedigree.
Some of us – at the risk of being called sadists – still want to see Joyce fight Wilder! This is a fight that was talked of some years back, at least a little, and now, as they both head towards the age of 40, maybe this guaranteed X-rated, indeed carnage fight can happen?
Let’s see how the above-mentioned heavyweight veterans get on here in 2025. What price Wilder, McCall, Joyce, Chisora, and Pulev all pull off at least one win apiece this year! If so, maybe all five guys will still be punching for pay in 2026.
