Johnny Fisher: ‘I’d give it a good round or two against Deontay Wilder’

LONDON – Johnny Fisher understands where a victory and loss over Michael Pirrotton this Saturday could leave him.

Fisher will make his debut under new promotional banner Zuffa Boxing at London’s Copper Box Arena. The 14-1 (12 KOs) popular heavyweight from Romford, England, is still on the comeback trail after suffering the first defeat of his career to Dave Allen last May. He was knocked out brutally that night, and in his next fight Fisher had to climb off the floor to stop the overmatched Ivan Balaz in Monaco.

Those two last performances have raised questions over just how far the 27-year-old can go in the sport. 

“Heavyweight boxing is a game of snakes and ladders,” Fisher told BoxingScene. “You're two fights away from being in the big time. You're two fights away from probably not boxing again. If I don't get off the floor in Monaco, then I don't get an offer from Zuffa Boxing. So that's not a slight against any promoter, that's the name and the transactional nature of the business that we're in.”

Fisher insisted that the loss to Allen no longer takes up space in his mind.

“No one wants to take a loss, but in the moment you think, ‘Oh, it's terrible, you're gutted,’ but life goes on,” he said. “People lose football matches every week, people lose rugby matches every week, but in boxing for some reason there's a stigma around if you lose.

“What's wrong with losing? Sometimes you have to lose and you have to go through a journey to get back to where you need to get to. Lennox Lewis lost, Muhammad Ali lost, and these guys are a hundred times, a thousand times better than me, so who cares? Let's keep going and let's right the wrongs.”

The current British heavyweight titleholder Richard Riakporhe has already offered Fisher a shot at his prestigious Lonsdale Belt should he defeat Pirrotton. This is the second time Fisher has been offered an opportunity to fight for the British title after rejecting a fight with then-champion Jeamie “TKV” Tshikeva.

“For me realistically, I've got to look at my career. I'll probably go into that fight with Riakporhe with a 35-40 per cent chance, whereas if I went in with Jeamie ‘TKV’ I had probably a 55-60 per cent chance,” Fisher said. “I've got to look at the opportunity to win a British title that's best for me. I'm not afraid to say that because Riakporhe's a world-class operator, a cruiserweight and now a heavyweight.”

With the contest broadcasting on Paramount+ in the US, there could be opportunities stateside with a victory.

“I've been hearing it from everywhere and that's a market or an area that I've not even got into,” said Fisher. “We've got loads of BOSH! soldiers all over the UK and we've got a good cohort over in America, but this would really start pushing us over there as well. I think we need to spread the BOSH! a little bit more over the Atlantic.”

Fisher has revealed in recent weeks that prior to signing with Zuffa Boxing he was in talks to face former world champion Deontay Wilder in Istanbul, Turkey. 

Could that be a fight he revisits?

“People keep putting these names in front of me as if I'm the one calling for these fights, but when people ask me about it, I'm going to talk about it,” said Fisher. “Deontay Wilder's a legend. I grew up watching him when I was 18, 19 years old and he's had amazing fights with Fury and given us some great knockouts over the years.

“If I get offered that and it makes sense for all parties involved, I'd give it a good round or two I reckon.”