Deontay Wilder looks set to call time on a world championship winning career with an 87.5% knockout-to-fight ratio.
‘The Bronze Bomber’ grabbed the WBC World title back in 2015 with a win over Bermaine Stiverne and kept hold of it all the way up until 2020 when he met Tyson Fury in their second fight after the first was scored a draw.
Since then, the career of Wilder has been on a downslope. He lost to Fury in their trilogy, took a year out and returned with a first round knockout of former sparring partner Robert Helenius. There were fruitless talks of an Anthony Joshua fight before he lost to Joseph Parker and, most recently, Zhilei Zhang.
Will he one day be inducted into the Hall of Fame? Recent inductee Tim Bradley pondered the question on Pro Box TV.
“He hasn’t beat anybody of any notoriety and then when it was his chance to step up, he had this huge reign and a chance to step up and face someone that was worthy or actually stepping in the ring with him … he lost. He lost to Fury.
I think his biggest win is Ortiz. He beat him twice and that’s it at the end of the day. But I hear you. The whole mystique. I get the face that he’s the biggest power-puncher probably in history. Top three. I understand that.”
Regardless of that verdict, Bradley feels that Wilder will be welcomed one day.
“To boxing standards … Deontay Wilder be a Hall of Famer. Will he be a first ballot? Probably not. You got guys like Earnie Shavers that are in the Hall of Fame now. If Earnie Shavers got in there with his resume and what he accomplished, Deontay Wilder will more than likely get in there as well.”
As of writing, Wilder hasn’t publicly commented on his next move.
