Deontay Wilder’s trainer, Malik Scott, has said that the skillset his man brings to the ring is impossible for Oleksandr Usyk to deal with.
WBA, IBF, WBO, and IBO Champion, Usyk, is undefeated in a career that has seen him rule both the cruiserweight and heavyweight divisions.
Despite no man being able to solve the puzzle presented by the Ukrainian’s elite talent, there’s a heavyweight who he’s yet to face that’s confident he can end the hype.
The trainer-fighter duo of Scott and Wilder have made no secret about their wish for a fight with Usyk. Belts aside, it may be because they genuinely believe that Wilder is just all wrong for the Ukrainian champ. Scott told BT Sport how he sees it going.
“He’s [Wilder] the best heavyweight in the world right now … I’m interested in him and Usyk, because I know how good Usyk is. But I also believe that, bio-mechanically, with what Deontay dishes out I think it’s not humanly possible for Usyk to stand up to that. Especially round after round after round.”
“Usyk is a [fundamentally] great boxer. No one respects him on US soil like I do. But he’s one of those slick fighters that after fights, if you notice, he has a scratch here, a lump here, blood here. Which means he’s getting hit. You get in there with Deontay, it ain’t no being slick for twelve rounds – you have to get hit because it’s not slow power, it’s rapid speed power.”
Many in the sport thought that Deontay Wilder would hang up the gloves following two particularly bruising losses to Tyson Fury, however he returned this year with a devastating knockout of Robert Helenius. The first round stoppage came from ‘The Bronze Bomber’s third punch of the fight.
Now on the comeback trail, his team are looking to manoeuvre themselves in front of Usyk for the reasons above, however the route that looks more likely is a final eliminator against Andy Ruiz and then a shot at Fury. That would give Wilder a chance to win back the WBC belt he lost the ‘The Gypsy King’ not too long ago.