World Boxing Council President Mauricio Sulaiman believes there is less pressure on Deontay Wilder, 34-years-old, as he heads to the trilogy fight with Tyson Fury.
The trilogy fight was scheduled for July 18, but it was quickly pushed back to the target month of October - due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
They initially fought in December 2018, which saw Fury go down twice and the contest ended in a controversial twelve round split draw.
The second time around, in February, Fury dropped Wilder twice and stopped him in the seventh round.
It wasn't long before Wilder exercised an immediate rematch clause.
Sulaiman believes the delay will actually help Wilder. He felt the dangerous puncher was entering the trilogy too fast with a July date.
“I don’t know if July 18 was a real date [for the trilogy], but it was quite soon for Wilder to go back immediately to camp after being knocked out the way he was knocked out,” Sulaiman told the Black Eye Barber Show.
“Go back to camp and recover mentally and physically… To be undefeated, five years world champion and then boom. It’s a very difficult task to recover mentally, plus the physicality. But I think this delay is going to help Wilder, in my opinion. [Wilder is doing] very well. He’s a warrior, he’s a monster and he’s got tremendous motivation.
“You have to understand what a fighter goes through, in life before they go through the glory days. Every fighter is a story for a movie. What Wilder went through with his daughter. There were so many days when he didn’t know if he was going to be able to provide medicine and food for her. He had lost his mother and seen his father crying. All these things are very powerful and that creates a very strong character for any boxer.
“Wilder, in particular, is very proud. He lost and he knows he lost. But he has everything to win, nothing more to lose. If he loses again, it’s okay because he already lost. All he has is to go and make it and win. Otherwise, his career is over.”