Jay Deas, co-manager of WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (38-0, 37 KOs), likes the idea of having his fighter be part of the upcoming mega-event with Floyd Mayweather Jr. coming out of retirement to face UFC superstar Conor McGregor.
Mayweather-McGregor was officially announced last week, and takes place on August 26th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The undercard bouts are unknown, but Mayweather's promotional company is handling the matchmaking for the event and most of the fighters to get showcased are likely going to be contractually tied to Mayweather Promotions.
But Wilder and Mayweather share the same adviser in Al Haymon.
Wilder has been out of the ring since February, when he knocked out late replacement Gerald Washington. There was a mandatory defense ordered, against Bermane Stiverne, but there is very little interest in the fight as Wilder dominated Stiverne to capture the title in January 2015.
If the opportunity comes to return on the Mayweather-McGregor pay-per-view card, Deas would not have a problem with that - if the financial numbers made sense of course.
“I wouldn’t have any problem with it because I wouldn’t consider us an undercard,” Deas said to the Tuscaloosa News. “I would consider us to be the legitimate fight of that card. We would be, I think, the fight that legitimizes that entire event, having the WBC heavyweight champion in what we would hope would be the biggest fight of his career. I wouldn’t have any problem with it.
“As a manager you want the best financial opportunity for your guy. If a fight on that show is worth two or three times more than it is elsewhere on another date then I would be fine with doing it on that date. It would certainly put us in front of the world media and in front of all the boxing fans, a lot of fans that aren’t really boxing fans, and we could gain a lot of fans that way as well.”