Has anyone predicted a Wilder victory?
EDIT: Nevermind, I see the poll is like 44 to 9 in favor Usyk. That sounds about right actually. The odds will probably be something like that.
Oleksandr Usyk vs. Deontay Wilder - Who wins?
Re: Oleksandr Usyk vs. Deontay Wilder - Who wins?
EDIT: Nevermind, I see the poll is like 44 to 9 in favor Usyk. That sounds about right actually. The odds will probably be something like that.
Re: Oleksandr Usyk vs. Deontay Wilder - Who wins?
This may not be attached to Riyadh season, but I suspect it is still Saudi backed. The Ring is pushing this fight. The Ring is owned by the SaudisSendo Takeshi wrote: ↑03 Jan 2026, 05:21 To be honest, I don't see why he’d prefer a fight with Wilder over a Saudi-backed payday against Itauma.
While Wilder is definitely the bigger name, he’s lost a few too many times recently for a win over him to really add much value to Usyk’s record.
Re: Oleksandr Usyk vs. Deontay Wilder - Who wins?
9 must be trolling or they haven't seen any Wilder fights since Helenius in 2022
Re: Oleksandr Usyk vs. Deontay Wilder - Who wins?
9 must be trolling or they haven't seen any Wilder fights since Helenius in 2022
Remember they aren't saying he has a slim chance, they are actually saying a Wilder win by KO is the most likely outcome
Bomb Squad!
Re: Oleksandr Usyk vs. Deontay Wilder - Who wins?
Could be hard to make it entertaining when you can't beat him down
Usyk is the perfect opponent in some ways, he won't savage he's not that type of guy even though he could
Same time, how does he do the dirty on Deontay clean with minimum punishment
Usyk is the perfect opponent in some ways, he won't savage he's not that type of guy even though he could
Same time, how does he do the dirty on Deontay clean with minimum punishment
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Sendo Takeshi
- Flyweight
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Re: Oleksandr Usyk vs. Deontay Wilder - Who wins?
To be honest, I always expect an upset in combat sports. Especially in the heavyweight division.
Even though Wilder looked like sh!t his last three fights. I watched all of them live and regreted every single one of them, but who knows.
Even though Wilder looked like sh!t his last three fights. I watched all of them live and regreted every single one of them, but who knows.
Re: Oleksandr Usyk vs. Deontay Wilder - Who wins?
Stranger things have happened. I expect an Usyk shutout and eventual TKO stoppage, but stranger things have happened than a huge puncher landing a huge punch.
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Ruthless-RKO
- Welterweight
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- Joined: 24 Apr 2016, 11:59
Re: Oleksandr Usyk vs. Deontay Wilder - Who wins?
Deontay Wilder Doesn’t Believe He's Lost A Step: 'I’m In My Prime'
Deontay Wilder hasn’t looked as explosive and violent as he once did.
At 40, he looks past his best, but he doesn’t believe that’s true.
“I’m in my prime now,” Wilder to Naji on Cigar Talk.
Wilder still sports that menacing look. Yet, that mind-numbing power he once had hasn’t shown up when he needed it most recently.
In four of his last six, the former WBC heavyweight champion has come up woefully short. His last few appearances have been particularly dreadful.
Joseph Parker won nearly every round against Wilder in December 2023. Roughly six months later, Zhilei Zhang took his pound of flesh, stopping Wilder in the fifth round.
Eventually, the Alabama native got back on track against Tyrrell Herndon. But even with Wilder being viewed as a gigantic favorite, he didn’t exactly blow him out of the water.
Wilder scored two knockdowns before knocking out Herndon in the seventh on June 27.
Now Wilder is in the middle of negotiating a matchup with Ring, IBF, WBA and WBC heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk.
The Ukrainian has seemed adamant about facing Wilder, who was last champion in 2021, in the first half of 2026.
Wilder (44-4-1, 43 KOs) figures to be a massive underdog, but he believes his late start in the sport has helped preserve him despite his advanced age.
“I started boxing very late,” he said. “I started at 21."
Three of his four losses have come by stoppage, the most recent in 2024.
Deontay Wilder hasn’t looked as explosive and violent as he once did.
At 40, he looks past his best, but he doesn’t believe that’s true.
“I’m in my prime now,” Wilder to Naji on Cigar Talk.
Wilder still sports that menacing look. Yet, that mind-numbing power he once had hasn’t shown up when he needed it most recently.
In four of his last six, the former WBC heavyweight champion has come up woefully short. His last few appearances have been particularly dreadful.
Joseph Parker won nearly every round against Wilder in December 2023. Roughly six months later, Zhilei Zhang took his pound of flesh, stopping Wilder in the fifth round.
Eventually, the Alabama native got back on track against Tyrrell Herndon. But even with Wilder being viewed as a gigantic favorite, he didn’t exactly blow him out of the water.
Wilder scored two knockdowns before knocking out Herndon in the seventh on June 27.
Now Wilder is in the middle of negotiating a matchup with Ring, IBF, WBA and WBC heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk.
The Ukrainian has seemed adamant about facing Wilder, who was last champion in 2021, in the first half of 2026.
Wilder (44-4-1, 43 KOs) figures to be a massive underdog, but he believes his late start in the sport has helped preserve him despite his advanced age.
“I started boxing very late,” he said. “I started at 21."
Three of his four losses have come by stoppage, the most recent in 2024.
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Ruthless-RKO
- Welterweight
- Posts: 100682
- Joined: 24 Apr 2016, 11:59
Re: Oleksandr Usyk vs. Deontay Wilder - Who wins?
Usyk on his plans for 2026
“My team prepare for me fight (this year). I want fight with — I say Bronze Bomber, Deontay Wilder. I want this fight, I think Deontay too (wants the fight). Okay, let’s go.”
On facing Wilder now when he’s past his prime
“It’s biggest names (I want to fight). This is man, last 10 years top fighter. It’s I think, for me, it’s great fight.”
On the danger of Wilder’s power and if he now packs a bigger punch than him
“Maybe.”
On how long he plans to fight given that he’s already a sure Hall of Famer
“I think two, three fights more.”
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Ruthless-RKO
- Welterweight
- Posts: 100682
- Joined: 24 Apr 2016, 11:59
Re: Oleksandr Usyk vs. Deontay Wilder - Who wins?
Ambitious Ed Pereira aiming to shatter 135,132 boxing attendance record
Ambitious Ed Pereira is hoping to set world records tumbling with the highest-attended live boxing match in history taking place in 2026.
The CEO of I Visit Boxing is set to formally unveil plans for his future in San Francisco today, and admits: “It’s exciting, it's a bit nerve-wracking, as you can imagine, but we’ve got the guys.”
There is speculation about which fighters can attract numbers to usurp the 135,132 present to watch Tony Zale fight Billy Pryor in 1941 in Juneau Park, Milwaukee, but Pereira thinks he can do it.
Pereira is not a promoter in the strictest sense. He is an event organizer.
He worked with Riyadh Season and Sela on the ill-fated Times Square show last May, and tomorrow, with the San Francisco mayor and in front of City Call, he will announce some of his ambitious plans.
Pereira already has a major player in support with YouTube, who will carry the events he puts on. The idea is to do 12 per year, some of them on YouTube pay-per-view.
“So, for us, the vision going forward is to announce that we’re going to create a super big event,” he added. “We’re going to look to aim to break the world record. No one has come anywhere near beating that number. And on July 11th, we’re going to go for the Guinness Book of Records to try and break that. So, we’re going to put a card on in the city centre of San Francisco. We’re going to close quite a huge portion of San Francisco down to create this large-scale event and try and break that 135,132 record. We won't be announcing the fighters tomorrow. They’ll be announced a little bit later on. This is just to announce that the event's happening and who the partners are going to be. That will come a little bit later, but just to say that I'm working with some promoters currently, and it looks really, really good. So, I can't wait to tell everybody who is going to be on that card.”
There has been online speculation that it could be the heavyweight bout between Oleksandr Usyk and Deontay Wilder. Pereira would not confirm.
“I have seen that,” he said. “Look, whoever lands it has got a really good fight on their hands.”
There were lessons learned from the Times Square show but Pereira has not been put off trying to think outside the box.
“Well, first of all, I love stadiums. I love stadium events,” he said. “I've worked stadium events all my life, mainly rugby and football [soccer], and stadiums can be special, right? “And it's not to say that we won't be announcing any stadium shows ourselves. We will be. I think that's fair to say that over the course of the next few months we'll be doing a few stadium shows. But I think there's something special when you create an I was there moment. And sometimes a lot of that has to do with the card. In fact, a huge amount of that has to do with the card. But we want the fan to be part of the show. We want the fans to be part of the show. And I think one of the key things that we are talking about, particularly in San Francisco, is that the fans themselves, if we break the world record, the fans themselves will be record holders. It's part of their show. You can't break records in stadiums or records of this size. You've got to go out and think kind of out of the box.
“Times Square was really hard. It was logistically a really difficult event to put on. But it's what keeps me alive. I enjoy the difficult challenges.”
That show was in league with Ring and Riyadh Season, and Pereira is open to working with them again.
“I'm doing my own thing, but not to say that I won't work with them again,” he said.
“Look, I really enjoyed my time working with both Sela, the Ring guys and Riyadh season as a whole. Look, what His Excellency has done for boxing cannot be matched. He came into boxing and put a great spotlight on the great sport of boxing. Not to say that we won't work with them again, but for the moment, it's just me.
“We're really excited about the scale of what we're trying to achieve. So as I said, I think some of them will be stadium shows. Some of them will be outdoor shows. All of them, though, will be iconic in one way, shape or form. And you might actually find that there'll be smaller venues or smaller amounts of people. Obviously, I'm not going to do 135,000 people every time. I mean, that would be just mad. But you'll find smaller shows, but there'll always be a link to something iconic, an iconic venue or a link to the past or a stadium that is known for some of the greatest fights in boxing history. There will always be an iconic link.”
With many networks pulling back from boxing, what makes Pereira believes now is the time to do record numbers?
“Many, many, many years ago, boxing was the biggest sport in the world,” he added. “Bigger than football [soccer]. Football’s never been the number one sport. Boxing was always the number one sport. Over the period of time, and actually I was doing a little bit of research and looking back in time, the heavyweight champion of the world was known as the king of the world. You could walk in the street. I always say this line, you could go up to a granny in Bolton many, many years ago and ask her who the heavyweight champion of the world was. And she would tell you exactly the same. If there was a granny walking in New York City, she would tell you. Unfortunately, now they don’t. That doesn't mean that that can’t happen again. And I think if you look at, and I clearly understand the purist’s view with Jake Paul, but if you actually look at the amount of eyeballs that Jake Paul’s getting into the sport, that shows you his potential. Whether you agree with him or you don’t agree with him, the eyeballs are undeniable. And the fact that he’s bringing the sport to a wider audience is undeniable.
“I’m a firm believer that the casual fan, the guy in the pub, drinking a pint, loves the sport of boxing. They just haven’t been shown it yet or they haven't had easy access to it. Football's everywhere. You’ve got easy access to football. Boxing is not the same. And I think that’s the vision. That's the hole that we seek to fill.”
Ambitious Ed Pereira is hoping to set world records tumbling with the highest-attended live boxing match in history taking place in 2026.
The CEO of I Visit Boxing is set to formally unveil plans for his future in San Francisco today, and admits: “It’s exciting, it's a bit nerve-wracking, as you can imagine, but we’ve got the guys.”
There is speculation about which fighters can attract numbers to usurp the 135,132 present to watch Tony Zale fight Billy Pryor in 1941 in Juneau Park, Milwaukee, but Pereira thinks he can do it.
Pereira is not a promoter in the strictest sense. He is an event organizer.
He worked with Riyadh Season and Sela on the ill-fated Times Square show last May, and tomorrow, with the San Francisco mayor and in front of City Call, he will announce some of his ambitious plans.
Pereira already has a major player in support with YouTube, who will carry the events he puts on. The idea is to do 12 per year, some of them on YouTube pay-per-view.
“So, for us, the vision going forward is to announce that we’re going to create a super big event,” he added. “We’re going to look to aim to break the world record. No one has come anywhere near beating that number. And on July 11th, we’re going to go for the Guinness Book of Records to try and break that. So, we’re going to put a card on in the city centre of San Francisco. We’re going to close quite a huge portion of San Francisco down to create this large-scale event and try and break that 135,132 record. We won't be announcing the fighters tomorrow. They’ll be announced a little bit later on. This is just to announce that the event's happening and who the partners are going to be. That will come a little bit later, but just to say that I'm working with some promoters currently, and it looks really, really good. So, I can't wait to tell everybody who is going to be on that card.”
There has been online speculation that it could be the heavyweight bout between Oleksandr Usyk and Deontay Wilder. Pereira would not confirm.
“I have seen that,” he said. “Look, whoever lands it has got a really good fight on their hands.”
There were lessons learned from the Times Square show but Pereira has not been put off trying to think outside the box.
“Well, first of all, I love stadiums. I love stadium events,” he said. “I've worked stadium events all my life, mainly rugby and football [soccer], and stadiums can be special, right? “And it's not to say that we won't be announcing any stadium shows ourselves. We will be. I think that's fair to say that over the course of the next few months we'll be doing a few stadium shows. But I think there's something special when you create an I was there moment. And sometimes a lot of that has to do with the card. In fact, a huge amount of that has to do with the card. But we want the fan to be part of the show. We want the fans to be part of the show. And I think one of the key things that we are talking about, particularly in San Francisco, is that the fans themselves, if we break the world record, the fans themselves will be record holders. It's part of their show. You can't break records in stadiums or records of this size. You've got to go out and think kind of out of the box.
“Times Square was really hard. It was logistically a really difficult event to put on. But it's what keeps me alive. I enjoy the difficult challenges.”
That show was in league with Ring and Riyadh Season, and Pereira is open to working with them again.
“I'm doing my own thing, but not to say that I won't work with them again,” he said.
“Look, I really enjoyed my time working with both Sela, the Ring guys and Riyadh season as a whole. Look, what His Excellency has done for boxing cannot be matched. He came into boxing and put a great spotlight on the great sport of boxing. Not to say that we won't work with them again, but for the moment, it's just me.
“We're really excited about the scale of what we're trying to achieve. So as I said, I think some of them will be stadium shows. Some of them will be outdoor shows. All of them, though, will be iconic in one way, shape or form. And you might actually find that there'll be smaller venues or smaller amounts of people. Obviously, I'm not going to do 135,000 people every time. I mean, that would be just mad. But you'll find smaller shows, but there'll always be a link to something iconic, an iconic venue or a link to the past or a stadium that is known for some of the greatest fights in boxing history. There will always be an iconic link.”
With many networks pulling back from boxing, what makes Pereira believes now is the time to do record numbers?
“Many, many, many years ago, boxing was the biggest sport in the world,” he added. “Bigger than football [soccer]. Football’s never been the number one sport. Boxing was always the number one sport. Over the period of time, and actually I was doing a little bit of research and looking back in time, the heavyweight champion of the world was known as the king of the world. You could walk in the street. I always say this line, you could go up to a granny in Bolton many, many years ago and ask her who the heavyweight champion of the world was. And she would tell you exactly the same. If there was a granny walking in New York City, she would tell you. Unfortunately, now they don’t. That doesn't mean that that can’t happen again. And I think if you look at, and I clearly understand the purist’s view with Jake Paul, but if you actually look at the amount of eyeballs that Jake Paul’s getting into the sport, that shows you his potential. Whether you agree with him or you don’t agree with him, the eyeballs are undeniable. And the fact that he’s bringing the sport to a wider audience is undeniable.
“I’m a firm believer that the casual fan, the guy in the pub, drinking a pint, loves the sport of boxing. They just haven’t been shown it yet or they haven't had easy access to it. Football's everywhere. You’ve got easy access to football. Boxing is not the same. And I think that’s the vision. That's the hole that we seek to fill.”
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Sendo Takeshi
- Flyweight
- Posts: 839
- Joined: 23 Dec 2023, 15:07
Re: Oleksandr Usyk vs. Deontay Wilder - Who wins?
Why would you fight Chisora, if you could fight the undisputed king?
I take it, because it makes sense, but if that's supposed to be a tune up..good luck Wilder.
I take it, because it makes sense, but if that's supposed to be a tune up..good luck Wilder.
Re: Oleksandr Usyk vs. Deontay Wilder - Who wins?
This is a good fight and a much better fight. I think Chisora beats him up the entire fight.Sendo Takeshi wrote: ↑21 Jan 2026, 05:53 Why would you fight Chisora, if you could fight the undisputed king?
I take it, because it makes sense, but if that's supposed to be a tune up..good luck Wilder.
Perhaps Turki has convinced Usyk otherwi$e.
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Sendo Takeshi
- Flyweight
- Posts: 839
- Joined: 23 Dec 2023, 15:07
Re: Oleksandr Usyk vs. Deontay Wilder - Who wins?
From what I remember, Team Usyk doesn't have much to do with Turki anymore. He wants Usyk to fight Itauma, but Team Usyk isn't interested in that matchup. Rumor has it they're more interested in working with Zuffa... but yeah, I can definitely see Chisora beating Wilder, too.
EDIT: We might actually get Usyk vs Kabayel now.
EDIT: We might actually get Usyk vs Kabayel now.
Re: Oleksandr Usyk vs. Deontay Wilder - Who wins?
What's next for Usyk then? Itauma, Kabayel, Wardley, Gassiev?
Re: Oleksandr Usyk vs. Deontay Wilder - Who wins?
That's actually a good and interesting fight at this stage of their careers. Might've been decent at any point honestly.Sendo Takeshi wrote: ↑21 Jan 2026, 05:53 Why would you fight Chisora, if you could fight the undisputed king?
I take it, because it makes sense, but if that's supposed to be a tune up..good luck Wilder.
Re: Oleksandr Usyk vs. Deontay Wilder - Who wins?
Much better matchup than Usyk v Wilder. I think chisora wins this and then they should both retire.
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Sweet Dick Willie
- Super Bantamweight
- Posts: 1107
- Joined: 22 Mar 2021, 13:44
Re: Oleksandr Usyk vs. Deontay Wilder - Who wins?
It looks like he wants to beat all the champs of that era. It's starting to look like Usyk would've faced Parker if he beat Wardley. I understand why he's doing it but Wilder's been horrific and has lost way too many fights recently, Parker needs another big win or two to get the fans interested and Ruiz is inactive and never in shape. It might look good on his resume when you look back in a few decades time but it looks awful for fans now.
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Sendo Takeshi
- Flyweight
- Posts: 839
- Joined: 23 Dec 2023, 15:07
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golden_labrador
- Super Bantamweight
- Posts: 1752
- Joined: 25 Dec 2020, 18:18
Re: Oleksandr Usyk vs. Deontay Wilder - Who wins?
latest talk is of Kabayel and I'm really up for it. In a sane world it would be the fight, and I think after the rousing reception Agit got on home turf, it might have pricked the ears of the people in power.
Re: Oleksandr Usyk vs. Deontay Wilder - Who wins?
I would think Usyk would go over pretty well in Germany too. They tend to like the real technical guys.golden_labrador wrote: ↑22 Jan 2026, 15:03 latest talk is of Kabayel and I'm really up for it. In a sane world it would be the fight, and I think after the rousing reception Agit got on home turf, it might have pricked the ears of the people in power.
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golden_labrador
- Super Bantamweight
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Re: Oleksandr Usyk vs. Deontay Wilder - Who wins?
yep. and the Klit Bros were Germany based during their careers toogilgamesh wrote: ↑22 Jan 2026, 19:34I would think Usyk would go over pretty well in Germany too. They tend to like the real technical guys.golden_labrador wrote: ↑22 Jan 2026, 15:03 latest talk is of Kabayel and I'm really up for it. In a sane world it would be the fight, and I think after the rousing reception Agit got on home turf, it might have pricked the ears of the people in power.
Re: Oleksandr Usyk vs. Deontay Wilder - Who wins?
Hang on a minute ...
It was only 5 minutes ago Usyk v Wilder was going to San Francisco in July
Now it's Chisora v Wilder in London ?
It was only 5 minutes ago Usyk v Wilder was going to San Francisco in July
Now it's Chisora v Wilder in London ?