Deontay Wilder-Jai Opetaia possible as the Fury-Joshua co-feature
Former heavyweight titlist has accepted an offer to face the lineal cruiserweight champion, who would move up in weight
Former longtime WBC heavyweight titleholder Deontay Wilder is looking for a fight after discussions to challenge lineal champion Oleksandr Usyk hit a wall.
Usyk (25-0, 16 KOs), 39, of Ukraine, the former two-time undisputed heavyweight champion, who gave up his three remaining sanctioning body titles in June, said he wanted a “last dance” before retirement and wanted it in the United States. His preferred opponent was Wilder, who was very interested.
However, the fight was not finalized because, “Usyk asked for more money than Zuffa or Turki (Alalshikh) wanted to pay,” Wilder manager Shelly Finkel told Fight Freaks Unite.
So with an Usyk fight off the table, Finkel said that Alalshikh’s team recently called him to gauge interest in Wilder facing lineal cruiserweight champion (and Zuffa Boxing fighter) Jai Opetaia, who would move up to heavyweight, in the co-feature of the Tyson Fury-Anthony Joshua mega fight on Dec. 11 (Netflix) at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. Wilder and Finkel are indeed interested.
“I’ve had conversations and I’m waiting for them to get back to me about Dec. 11,” Finkel said. “All things being equal Deontay would like to fight (WBA titleholder Murat) Gassiev. When I brought it to the people at Zuffa and with Turki they said they weren’t interested. They were interested in Deontay against Opetaia and I said, ‘Fine. This is what we’re looking for.’ We went back and forth and they said OK to a number but I haven’t heard back from them so we are also talking to Gassiev’s people.”
Wilder (45-4-1, 43 KOs), 40, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, is coming off a split decision win over good friend Derek Chisora in a fight of the year candidate in April in London.
If Wilder, who is 0-2-1 in a heavyweight championship trilogy with Fury but never faced Joshua in a fight that was at one time in high demand, does end up facing Opetaia on Dec. 11 his addition to the card would mean the show would include the three biggest heavyweight stars of the era.
Opetaia (31-0, 24 KOs), 31, an Australian southpaw, is coming off a one-sided ninth-round knockout of former two-time WBC cruiserweight titleholder Noel Mikaelian in the Ryan Garcia-Conor Benn co-feature on Sept. 12 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
