Former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder has addressed the collapse of negotiations with Oleksandr Usyk after the undisputed champion left him off a newly announced three-fight retirement plan that includes Rico Verhoeven, the Fabio Wardley vs. Daniel Dubois winner, and Tyson Fury.
Wilder, now 40 years old, suggested that uncertainty around Usyk’s schedule made it impossible to keep waiting for a fight that never materialised. He has instead signed to face Derek Chisora at The O2 Arena in London on April 4, a non-title bout that will air on DAZN pay-per-view.
In an interview with FightHub TV, Wilder laid out his reasoning.
“I’m 40 years old, I’m ready to go. I can’t sit around.”
Wilder said that while discussions with Usyk’s camp did take place, they failed to produce a concrete date or direction. With the heavyweight division’s calendar filling up around him, he opted to stay active rather than keep waiting for a fight that never materialized.
Usyk’s retirement roadmap
Usyk (24-0, 15 KOs) confirmed his final three opponents to Ring Magazine and Inside the Ring on March 10, outlining a plan to retire by age 41.
First is Rico Verhoeven (1-0, 1 KO), the kickboxing star, scheduled for May 23 in Giza, Egypt, with the WBC heavyweight title on the line. Second is the winner of Wardley vs. Dubois, who meet for the WBO heavyweight title on May 9 in Manchester. Third, and last, is Fury.
“And third fight is my friend, greedy belly, Tyson Fury,” Usyk said.
Wilder’s name was absent from the list. So was rising prospect Moses Itauma, whom Usyk told ESPN he had no interest in fighting: “No, I don’t want to fight with Itauma, because he’s a young guy, I don’t want to break this guy.”
A fight that lost momentum long ago
The omission was not a surprise to those close to the negotiations. Usyk’s former promoter, Alexander Krassyuk, had cooled interest in the matchup as far back as 2024, after Wilder’s loss to Joseph Parker.
Krassyuk said at the time that Wilder was “lucky” to remain in the conversation and needed to “take his place in the queue to the peak,” adding that Usyk’s career was focused on “glory, greatness, and legacy” rather than names that did not serve that narrative.
By 2026, with Wilder still without a win over a top-tier opponent since his stoppage of Robert Helenius in 2022, the fight had lost commercial urgency.
Wider fallout from Usyk’s choices
Wilder is not the only heavyweight frustrated by Usyk’s retirement blueprint. Agit Kabayel, the WBC interim champion who earned his position with wins over Arslanbek Makhmudov and Zhilei Zhang, has publicly criticised the decision to face Verhoeven instead of honouring mandatory obligations.
“He’s only interested in money; everything else is of no interest to him,” Kabayel said in an interview with RTL/ntv. “How can he not name the number one in the rankings, his mandatory challenger?”
The WBC has mandated that Kabayel face the winner of Usyk vs. Verhoeven. However, the IBF and WBA have not yet commented on whether Usyk risks being stripped if he continues to bypass their mandatory challengers in favour of his hand-picked farewell tour.
Two separate paths
The heavyweight division now splits into two distinct lanes over the next ten weeks. Wilder faces Chisora on April 4, followed by Fury’s return against Makhmudov at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on April 11. Wardley and Dubois clash on May 9, with Usyk vs. Verhoeven closing the stretch on May 23 in Egypt.
