THE WBC APPROVES DEONTAY WILDER AS A POSSIBLE FUTURE OPPONENT FOR OLEKSANDR USYK
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By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
January 20th, 2026 (Mexico City, Mexico)– World Boxing Council President Mauricio Sulaiman, according to Sky Sports, has approved a request from World heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk for a voluntary world title defense later in 2026, and says number 13th-ranked heavyweight contender Deontay Wilder, who held the WBC World Heavyweight title for five years, is welcome as the challenger.
Usyk wants the mega heavyweight bout to take place in the United States, where Usyk last fought in 2019. Formal negotiations are now underway.
Wilder, 44-4-1 and 43 knockouts, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, coming off a seventh-round win by stoppage over Tyrrell Herndon in Wichita, Kansas, in June 2025, still has the explosive power to become a force in the heavyweight division, if he can beat Usyk. Reminiscent of the original Rocky movie, where Apollo Creed took the least likely available opponent to challenge for the title, Wilder would seem to be the least possible. After losses to Tyson Fury, Joseph Parker, and Zhilei Zhang, Wilder’s better days seemed to be behind him. After a comeback win, Wilder has nothing to lose by accepting the Usyk challenge.
The southpaw Usyk, 24-0 with 15 knockouts, Oxnard, California, by way of Ukraine, the IBF, WBC, WBA, and WBO World Heavyweight and lineal champion, relinquished the WBO World Heavyweight title, now held by Fabio Wardley.
Wilder, in expressing interest in this bout, told Bloody Elbow “I would think my right hand would be the main recipe of it. I do have the speed and the height and the athleticism, which are the three things that give me an advantage.”
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