Former WBC Heavyweight Champion Deontay Wilder could be returning to the ring as early as this fall. During a recent conversation with The Sun, Wilder’s co-manager, Shelly Finkel, suggested that an announcement could be made as early as this month.
“Spoke with him on Tuesday, he couldn’t be happier. He’s having a great time and he’s getting more attention now than ever before. He’s out in Vegas training and he’s very happy,” Finkel said.
“He’s at the UFC gym training, we’re not exactly sure where the next fight will be yet but I would hope to have that together in the next week or so. I think next week we’ll probably have an agreement and then an announcement.”
Deontay Wilder is one of the most feared punchers in the history of the sport, but he is 36 years old and recovering from back-to-back knockout losses. After his last defeat in October 2021, many believed that he may retire from the sport completely, but he is reportedly interested in making one last push for the heavyweight title.
“I’ve been highly requested. So many people have told me, ‘come back, come back.’ I’d say I’m back by popular demand,” Wilder told fans in his hometown of Tuscaloosa, Alabama at a statue unveiling earlier this year.
“And the business of boxing needs me. When there’s a thriving American champion, there’s nothing like it. When there’s not, you see it’s dead. There’s a drought in (the sport). People know the difference now.”
It is clear that Deontay Wilder would like to fight Fury, Anthony Joshua or Oleksandr Usyk in the future, but it appears that his first fight will come against Robert Helenius. Previously, boxing promoter Frank Warren suggested that he’d heard rumblings of a potential fight between the two former sparring partners.
“Deontay is fighting in October; he’s coming back, and they’re talking about him fighting [Robert Helenius], and that’ll be in the States,” Warren told TalkSport.
As the month of October nears, the clock is ticking on a successful return to boxing for Deontay Wilder.
