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The heavyweight championship could make its way back to U.S. soil for the first time in nearly five years.
Fittingly, the event would include the last American heavyweight to challenge for that very crown.
Egis Klimas, the career-long manager for two-division and unified heavyweight king Oleksandr Usyk, informed Dubai-based publication The National that a targeted clash with Deontay Wilder could take place – if finalized – on the U.S. West Coast in late April or early May.
Talks are ongoing for the already approved voluntary defense, though the blessing of the sanctioning bodies was the least of anyone’s worries. A number of details remain in need of resolution, though none of which figure to serve as a roadblock.
One key item is the promoter for the event. Klimas would not tip his hand on the group(s) with whom he is presently negotiating, other than to reveal that it won’t involve Riyadh Season.
“No, actually, that’s a different group from the United States,” Klimas told The National during the start of the World Sports Summit in Dubai. “I cannot say that he’s not going to be fighting in the Riyadh Season [in the future]. He might be fighting in the Riyadh Season, but as far as right now, we don’t have any offers or anything like that from them.”
Usyk linked up with Riyadh Season and Turki Alalshikh for his two-fight set with Tyson Fury.
Their first meeting marked the first undisputed heavyweight championship in 25 years, won by Usyk, 24-0 (15 KOs) via split decision last May 18 in Riyadh. They returned to the Saudi capital for their rematch last December 21, where Usyk claimed a more convincing decision victory.
Fury immediately announced his retirement, though – true to form – has strongly hinted a comeback.
Usyk has fought just once since then. It came against London’s Daniel Dubois, whom he stopped in the 5th round of their July 19 rematch at Wembley Stadium to become two-time undisputed heavyweight champion. Riyadh Season was not directly involved in the event but was the major sponsor as is the case for all Queensberry Promotions events.
The idea of a showdown with Wilder in Vegas or L.A. would put Usyk in the states for the first time since October 2019, fittingly in his heavyweight debut. The former undisputed cruiserweight champion moved up in weight and knocked out late sub Chazz Witherspoon in the 7th round of a DAZN headliner in Chicago, Illinois.
Wilder, 44-4-1 (43 KOs), was still the undefeated WBC heavyweight titlist at the time.
The “Alabama Slammer” (hat tip to Brunch Boxing co-founder Matthew Brown for the nickname) was roughly one month out from a repeat knockout win over Luis Ortiz, which would be the 10th and final defense of the title he held since January 2015.
In his next outing, Wilder suffered a one-sided, 7th round knockout defeat to Fury in their February 2020 rematch at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Their October 2021 rubber match also came with the WBC title at stake, this time at nearby T-Mobile Arena. Fury won via 11th round knockout in the universally hailed 2021 Fight of the Year.
No portion of the heavyweight title has since been contested in the U.S.
Usyk dethroned Anthony Joshua in their September 2021 meeting in North London, then defeated him via split decision in their August 2022 rematch in Riyadh. Fury defeated Dillian Whyte in a 6th round knockout at Wembley, before three straight fights in Riyadh – his two fights with Usyk which were preceded by an October 2023 novelty fight with Francis Ngannou.
Wilder is 2-4 in his last six fights and just at .500 over his last four starts. He knocked out Robert Helenius in the 1st round of their October 2022 meeting in Brooklyn, New York. The win was followed by back-to-back defeats to Joseph Parker and Zhilei Zhang in Riyadh, the latter which seemingly brought a violent end to his memorable career.
Instead, Wilder took a long break before he returned to the ring this past June 27. Ring rust was evident though Wilder pushed through it to eventually stop Tyrrell Herndon in the 7th round in Wichita, Kansas.
Usyk’s win over Witherspoon was the last of his three career fights in the U.S.
The 2012 Olympic Gold medalist made the first defense of his WBO cruiserweight title in a December 2016 stoppage win over Thabiso Mchunu in Inglewood, California. Four months later, he headed over to the East Coast, where he outpointed Michael Hunter in an April 2017 title defense in Oxon Hill, Maryland.
Usyk went on to fully unify the cruiserweight division before moving up to heavyweight. His first win over Fury to become undisputed heavyweight king saw all the titles remain in his possession for just five weeks. He vacated the IBF belt to allow Dubois and Joshua fight for the full version of the title rather than just the interim belt.
Dubois annihilated Joshua inside of five rounds, only to return the belt to Usyk in their July rematch. Fury still holds the IBF belt, along with the WBC and WBA titles. He has since parted with the WBO strap, however, in lieu of an ordered title consolidation bout with Fabio Wardley.
Despite not going through with the fight, Usyk dismissed retirement talks and insisted that he has at least another two years left.
For now, the short-term goal appears to be to check off bucket list items – hence Wilder serving as his desired target.
“Wilder is one of the best names Oleksandr didn’t face yet,” Klimas pointed out. “He’s still in good shape, and he’s still a fighter, so he’s interesting. And as well, it’s the United States.”
Jake Donovan is an award-winning journalist who served as a senior writer for BoxingScene from 2007-2024, and news editor for the final nine years of his first tour. He was also the lead writer for The Ring before his decision to return home. Follow Jake on X and Instagram.
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