They say the last thing to go is a boxer’s punch.
They also say, and have always said, that the one and only thing heavyweight Deontay Wilder has is his punch.
In theory, then, this should mean that Wilder, at the age of 39, will be able to go on longer than most in his sport. It suggests that as he nears the exit door he will lose only what he never had in the first place – or what he never relied on in the first place – and that the thing that has made him so dangerous for the last 10 years should still be the thing that makes him dangerous today, in 2025.
That’s the theory at least.
The reality, on the other hand, is quite different. The reality is that Wilder, now 44-4-1 (43 KOs), has lost four of his last six fights and has in the past five years beaten only Robert Helenius (KO 1) and Tyrrell Anthony Herndon (TKO 7). The reality is, even Wilder’s punch, so often feared and so often detonated at exactly the right time, is now a punch opponents either see coming, use against him, or simply do not fear the way they once did.
This naturally leaves Wilder vulnerable – more vulnerable than he has ever been. He is now, at 39, not only susceptible to being outboxed, which has forever been the case, but is also susceptible to being walked down, walked through, and walked on to something big coming back the other way. This we saw when Wilder rematched Tyson Fury back in 2020 and since then others have had similar success when showing no fear in the presence of Wilder. Most recently China’s Zhilei Zhang exhibited fearlessness in range of Wilder’s right hand and effectively beat the American at his own game, stopping him in round five. That night, rather than run, hide, or try to outbox him, Zhang opted to stand in the pocket with Wilder and believed in his own ability to hurt Wilder before Wilder could hurt him. He then used superior technique, as well as a natural unorthodoxy and off-kilter rhythm, to ensure he landed first and from angles Wilder, all straight punches and straight lines, was unable to conceive, much less see.
That defeat led to many advising Wilder to retire. They said that now, with his own punches jamming up when about to fire, there was nothing Wilder could offer the heavyweight division besides an increasingly hittable target and a still relatively big name. The Wilder who won the WBC heavyweight title in 2015 and then reigned for five years was no more, they said.
And yet, if it’s true that the last thing a boxer loses is their punch, it is just as true to say that the last person who admits it’s over – really over – is the boxer with the punch. In this case, that boxer happens to be a man whose punch is more devastating than anybody else’s in the sport and a man whose delusion – or, maybe, perseverance – will for that reason likely be stronger than anyone else’s in the sport. Wilder, after all, will always be able to win fights – again, in theory – so long as he can continue to form a fist, straighten his arm, and produce torque and power from two alarmingly thin legs.
“Why is Wilder able to punch so freaking hard? He’s got connectivity,” explained George Lockhart, the one-time strength and conditioning coach of Tyson Fury and now working with Joseph Parker. “That’s the ability to take the bottom of my foot and generate that power all the way to the end of my punch. A lot of guys will push off their leg and lose that connectivity through their core and end up throwing the punch with just their arm. There’s no connectivity. They can be as strong as a freaking ox but it doesn’t mean anything. Wilder, honestly, isn’t even strong. I’ve seen him lift and he is not what you call a powerhouse. But he’s got connectivity for days.”
Of course, connectivity only becomes a factor if the target is open and available and to Wilder’s liking. If, for example, it should move and be elusive, no amount of connectivity will change the fact that Wilder is hitting thin air and becoming increasingly tired and exasperated as a result. Similarly, if Wilder is these days uncertain of pulling the trigger, or less convinced he will get there first, the connectivity he is capable of generating through his core hardly matters.
In other words, to see the best of Deontay Wilder for as long as we still have him, it is imperative that he has opponents and targets designed to suit him. Six-foot-nine gypsies, and six-foot-six southpaws from China are not the order of the day for Wilder at this late and rather perilous stage in his career. The same can be said, too, for well-drilled and improved workhorses from New Zealand like Joseph Parker, who showed, in 2023, that beating Wilder is sometimes just a matter of staying alert, staying disciplined, and doing more than Wilder in each of the rounds you share.
Only Helenius and Herndon, in fact, of all Wilder’s recent opponents, were suited to the “Bronze Bomber” in terms of style. It came as no surprise therefore that he stopped both inside the scheduled distance and impressed in doing so.
Also suited to Wilder is another heavyweight with whom he has been linked in recent weeks: Francis Ngannou. Ngannou, like Wilder, is a man whose simplicity is as much a positive as a negative and someone who, like Wilder, has been accused of possessing only punch power and little else. Unlike Wilder, however, Ngannou has yet to win a professional boxing match and is better known for his exploits in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he mixed the arts to become UFC heavyweight champion.
Since those days, he has dabbled as a professional boxer with varying degrees of success. His debut, you might remember, was against Tyson Fury in 2023 and the only thing more shocking than the fight taking place was the fact that Ngannou managed to go 10 rounds, drop Fury in the third, and almost cause one of boxing’s great upsets.
After that, with Ngannou apparently a natural, everybody got a little carried away. Ngannou himself got carried away, his supporters got carried away, and those who know better got carried away. This collective hysteria then resulted in Ngannou staying at the Fury level – near enough anyway – and fighting Anthony Joshua in 2024. Yet this time, in Joshua, Ngannou encountered a man who possessed a lot of fear Fury perhaps lacked and who was intent on putting Ngannou back in his box. This Joshua did, too, stopping him rather brutally in just two rounds.
Now, 18 months on, Ngannou’s boxing dream has seemingly faded, though it is not yet over. In fact, such is the welcoming nature of the sport, and such is Ngannou’s profile, the Cameroonian has managed to retain some relevance and marketability despite holding a 0-2 record. Rather than rebuild, or even just win a fight, Ngannou is still viewed as a heavyweight attraction who can go straight back into a big fight against an opponent of similar standing to Fury and Joshua. He has the name, after all. He has the style. He has the punch. Get him in a ring, or a cage, and Ngannou boils boxing down to its key ingredients, thus appealing to casual fans, and promises only action and entertainment. This alone is enough to ensure the 38-year-old will be invited back time and time again. This alone is enough to have Deontay Wilder licking his lips and seeing in Ngannou a man after his own heart.
Indeed, given the way they both operate, and their mutual desperation, it seems an obvious fight to make, Wilder vs. Ngannou. If both are in it only for quick flings, and only to make lots of money, they could do a lot worse than look to one another to fulfil their darkest desires.
Certainly, it appears that the wheels are in motion. On August 18, speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show, Ngannou said, “We haven’t engaged personally. But it’s going to be soon. We are setting some things up. I am training.” Asked then if Wilder would be his number one choice of opponent, Ngannou responded: “I would say so.”
As for Wilder, rather than ridicule the idea of fighting a 0-2 novice from MMA, he seems open to it. In a post on social media on August 30, he captioned a short video clip of him throwing his right hand at a pad with the following: “Respect, but I’m ten toes down. No fear, no fold, no fake. Always ready, always solid. Step in the ring and you'll see what that means.”
As much a come-get-me plea as a threat, Wilder knows enough about the boxing business to know that Ngannou might be able to help him get back on his feet. If, for instance, Wilder wants to now make a splash in a fight more meaningful, commercially, than the low-key one against Herndon in June, maybe Ngannou is his man and maybe that’s a good next step. After all, knocking out the former UFC star helped restore Anthony Joshua’s shattered confidence last year, so why shouldn’t the same be true for Wilder?
Better yet, in the hefty shape of Ngannou, he has someone designed almost to his exact specifications – someone built the way he would want them to be built. That doesn’t mean he carries no danger, he does, but of being befuddled or outboxed by Ngannou there is very little chance from Wilder’s point of view. In that respect, he can at least rest easy. All he must do is make a fist, wind back his arm, and throw the arm straight at a static target: big head, broad shoulders, one-track mind. All he must do is do what he has always done. Perhaps the one thing he can still do.
