Deontay Wilder is set to return to the boxing ring this year.
Wilder has not fought since June 2024. That was against Zhilei Zhang, the towering Chinese heavyweight who managed to chop ‘The Bronze Bomber’ down to the canvas inside five rounds and take the victory.
It was Wilder’s second consecutive loss following a points defeat to Joseph Parker in December 2023. Before that, he fought just once in 2022 when he knocked out Robert Helenius inside the opening round.
That was his first win since two damaging losses to Tyson Fury which put plenty of miles on the clock and left him without the WBC title he had previously held for so long.
Those results have left ‘The Bronze Bomber’ out on the sidelines with no one quite sure whether or not he would ever make a ring return.
The once fearsome knockout artist has now decided he will return to the sport, hoping to rediscover the form that scored him an incredible 42 knockouts in 43 wins.
Speaking to talkSPORT Boxing, Fury has reflected on the power in Wilder’s punches, initially needing just four words to explain what it felt like.
“Dynamite in his fists.”
He then qualified that with an explanation about how Wilder knocked him down four times but never out across their trilogy.
“If he lands on you, whether it’s round one or round 12, he’s going to knock you down or knock you out.”
“I think my sheer size and weight has a lot to do with him not being able to knock me out cold. He hits a guy 6ft 3ins and 225lbs, they’re nailed to the canvas. But a guy 6ft 9ins and 277lbs – I think that has a lot to do with it, size matters.”
Fury also suffered two back-to-back losses to Oleksandr Usyk in his last two fights and that led him to retire in January, though many hope he will U-turn and take an epic fight with Anthony Joshua.
Wilder is slated for an April return against heavyweight Curtis Harper.
