Former world champion Deontay Wilder views the upcoming clash between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk as an “50-50” fight.
Fury and Usyk will collide on February 17th in Saudi Arabia, where they will come together to unify the WBC, IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO titles.
Wilder has faced Fury on three occasions. They fought to a controversial twelve round split draw in 2018, and then Fury picked up stoppage wins in their next two meetings.
Despite never being able to get a unification fight under his belt, Wilder is very pleased with an undisputed champion being crowned in the heavyweight division.
“It’s a 50-50 fight, anything can happen. People look at Fury’s size as a major advantage but that doesn’t necessarily mean nothing because Usyk can stay low to the ground and because Fury’s so tall it’s going to be difficult to reach down. If Usyk can get in and out real fast, I feel speed could be a major factor. For me it’s 50-50 and I’m glad it’s finally happening so we get all the belts in one place. That’s going to make it easier for me to fight for the unification of those belts, so I won’t have to fight different champions and have champions running away because of what he’s seen me do to the last opponent,” Wilder said
“It’s been hard for me. I’ve handed out opportunities but opportunities have never been given to me and that’s sad to say that. I could have unified the division four different times in my career, but these fighters would not fight me and put their titles on the line. I definitely want to unify the division, and the faster that happens, the faster I can answer the retirement question. But right now I’m in high spirits, I’m looking forward to the future and I’ve seen what the future looks like. And I love it. My aura and happiness about boxing has been re-lit because I know what’s to come and I’m looking forward to it. Deontay Wilder could be around for a good bit of time until he’s accomplished his goals and then I’m out of here.”