by Jake Donovan
As far as Deontay Wilder and his team are concerned, the plan for his immediate future remains the same.
The unbeaten heavyweight titlist still has every intention of returning to the ring on May 18, manager Shelly Finkel confirmed to BoxingScene.com on Tuesday. His side also plans to treat that occasion as yet another opportunity to serve as an ambassador of the sport.
All he needs is an opponent.
It most definitely won’t be Tyson Fury, with whom he fought to a 12-round draw in their Showtime Pay-Per-View headliner last December. Nearly two full months worth of negotiating was thought to be close to finalized, until Fury (27-0-1, 19KOs) and promoter Frank Warren called an audible in signing with Top Rank and ESPN+ for all future fights.
While hope remained of keeping the fight alive. Fury and Top Rank confirmed with the World Boxing Council (WBC)—whose title Wilder has held since Jan. ’15—that they would be taking a different route for their next fight.
“Deontay will be OK. He’s obviously disappointed, but otherwise he’s fine,” Finkel said of his longtime heavyweight client. “We had our hopes up and figured (Tuesday) was the declare whether to go to a purse bid. If Fury still wanted the fight, we were prepared to make a (new) offer. If not, there’s no reason to send anything. Now we will look to finalize plans for his May 18 return.”
The latter ended up proving true, with Fury likely to make his ESPN+ debut in mid-to-late spring, while Wilder is proceeding with plans for a May 18 date atop a Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) telecast either on Showtime or Fox.
Whom he next faces hasn’t quite been sorted out yet, although mandatory challenger Dominic Breazeale would make the most sense just from a boxing politics standpoint. As the WBC initially approved and then ordered a rematch between Wilder and Fury, an interim title fight was also called between Breazeale and England’s Dillian Whyte, both of whom are owed title shots.
California’s Breazeale (20-1, 18KOs) is first in line for a mandatory title shot, having been appointed that slot after a Nov. ’17 knockout win over Eric Molina in a title eliminator. The 6’7” heavyweight—who is coming off of a 9th round knockout of Carlos Negron last December—publicly declared his availability during a recent edition of Inside PBC Sports, for which he serves as a co-host.
“I’m excited. That was the biggest thing that’s happened in the last 15 months,” admitted Breazeale, one of the few people in boxing pleased with the fallout of Wilder-Fury II, only if for the 15 months he’s waited for his title shot. “A situation like that, where Fury kind of pulls out of his situation with the rematch is the best thing for the WBC mandatory.”
A purse bid hearing for Wilder-Fury II was twice postponed, the second time indefinitely as the WBC gave both sides additional time to come to terms. With the fight now officially off the books, the sanctioning body is no longer on the hook to mandate an interim title fight and could instead greenlight Breazeale going straight to the title.
Whomever the next option, Wilder remains on course for his springtime appearance. Barclays Center remains strongly under consideration to host the event—as was believed to be the case when the plan was still Fury—with Las Vegas also in the mix as well as an outside possibility of the 6’7” Alabama native returning to Birmingham, less than an hour from his Tuscaloosa hometown and where four of his eight title defenses have been held.
The most recent of the bunch came in Feb. ’17, when Wilder knocked out then-unbeaten Gerald Washington in five rounds live from Legacy Arena in downtown Birmingham. Breazeale fought on the undercard, scoring a 5th round knockout of unbeaten prospect Izuagbe Ugonoh. However, his most infamous part of the night came post-fight, when the respective camps of Wilder and Breazeale were embroiled in a mini-brawl in the lobby of a nearby Westin hotel.
Bad blood has existed between the heavyweights ever since, with Breazeale at one point even filing a lawsuit over the incident, although it was ultimately dismissed by a California District court. It didn’t do anything to alleviate tension between the two, which of course can easily be settled in the ring.
Eventually, it will be revealed whether it’s that matchup or another option. Regardless, Wilder isn’t going to wait around of his next fight—not for Fury or any other notable heavyweight.
“We’re still fighting May 18, although of course as of now not versus Fury,” Finkel noted, though not at all ruling out the possibility of an eventual sequel between the two. “We’ll known the final opponent in the next few days.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox