By: Sean Crose
It’s been a while since former WBC world heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder has generated much buzz in the sport. Now, however the forty-year old Alabama native is drawing a great deal of attention as he prepares to continue with a comeback that began last June. For Wilder’s next opponent may well be England’s popular perennial heavyweight contender Derek Chisora. Should the fight be made, it would be an interesting showdown between two aging lions. No matter what went down, it’s doubtful a battle between Wilder and Chisora would be boring.
“We are in negotiations and it’s close,” Shelly Finke, Wilder’s manager has said to Sky Sports. Although he’s never held a world title, Chisora has been around for years, and has always been one of the better fighters in the heavyweight division. In a sense, he’s like Ernie Shavers, a good fighter who just wasn’t able to close the deal by winning a world title. A win over Wilder, would certainly add prestige to Chisora’s name and reputation. The interesting question is: could he beat Wilder? Chisora is already being seen as a tune-up here, but does he have what it takes to shock the world, provided this fight comes to fruition?
Wilder is now a wild card himself. After losing two out of three fights to Tyson Fury in what was an absolute classic heavyweight trilogy, Wilder seemed to have lost a step, losing fights to Joseph Parker and Zhilei Zhang respectively. He’s one of the hardest hitting punters of all time, however. That means he only has to land once against any opponent he gets in the ring with. There’s a reason the man still has the ability to draw attention to his fights. He may be older than he was, but as they say power is the last thing to go on a fighter.
What makes this all a bit strange is that there has been talk of Wilder facing Oleksandr Usyk. Indeed, heavyweight kingpin Usyk seems genuinely interested in fighting Wilder. Why Wilder would pass up a chance to win a world title once again, if that’s what he’s doing here, is something of a mystery. If Wilder is looking for a tune-up he could find a far less menacing opponent than Chisora. If this battle between old timers who are still dangerous does indeed come to fruition, it will be must see TV. Whether or not it will prove to be relevant is another story.
