With it being reported that Oleksandr Usyk will be in attendance for Deontay Wilder’s comeback bout, Wilder recalls another time a fellow fighter came to watch him.
‘The Bronze Bomber’ returns to the ring tonight in Brooklyn to face an in-form Robert Helenius. The former champion of the world is looking to get back to winning ways and title shots after two consecutive losses to Tyson Fury.
It turns out that fighting for a belt might not be too far around the corner, as Oleksandr Usyk has expressed an interest in facing the knockout artist from Alabama. When asked by FightHype.com if Usyk’s potential presence at ringside would make him fight any differently, he used a past example about one Joseph Parker.
“I’m going to do what I’ve got to do. I don’t want to make a big statement, I don’t want to scare him [Usyk] off. He says he wants the winner of the fight, and the last guy who said [he wanted to face] a winner of my fight was Joseph Parker. After the fight [where] I gave a devastating knockout, he [Parker] went the other way.”
Wilder may be referring to back in February 2017 when Joseph Parker held the WBO heavyweight title. ‘The Bronze Bomber’ was WBC Champion at the time and, on the 25th of February with Parker in attendance, Wilder knocked down and then unleashed on Gerald Washington. The referee stopped the fight in the fifth, making it his 37th stoppage victory.
Although keen on unifying the belts, the champion from New Zealand instead travelled to the UK to face another champion in Anthony Joshua. He lost his belt that night, and is yet to have another shot at it.
Whether or not Parker thought twice about the fight after Wilder’s knockout – and it is unlikely – he has a Ukrainian champion on his hands now that seemingly won’t turn down any challenge. Should Usyk be in attendance tonight at the fight, and if Wilder does indeed win, it’ll be interesting to see what ‘The Bronze Bomber’ says in the aftermath.