Deontay Wilder is in a mood to wheel and deal.
The former heavyweight titlist from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, recently told an outlet that he is now in talks with former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou about making a “two-fight deal.”
Last month, Wilder expressed his enthusiasm for a couple of crossover fights—one using boxing rules, the other mixed martial arts—with Ngannou, who is Cameroonian. Ngannou famously parted ways with the UFC after they were unable to reach an agreement on his contract extension.
Wilder made his comments this past weekend in Saudi Arabia where he attended the highly publicized Jake Paul-Tommy Fury cruiserweight card. The trip, for Wilder, seems to have been more than for just pleasure. Wilder noted that he is interested in coming back to the so-called Oil Kingdom to fight Ngannou.
“It’s a real discussion,” Wilder said of a potential Ngannou fight in an interview with FightHubTV. “It’s a real discussion. We’re trying to do a two-fight deal. One maybe here and the other one in Africa. So that’ll be the 50th anniversary of Muhammad Ali.”
Wilder, who ran into WBC titlist Tyson Fury during the same weekend for the first time since the end to their bitter trilogy in 2021, said he is actively seeking big fights. Wilder recently suggested that he is now a free agent but that he is still part of Premier Boxing Champions, his longtime backers.
Asked if he would entertain a fourth fight with Fury, Wilder (43-2-1, 42 KOs) responded in the affirmative.
“Of course,” he said. “We’ll do it again, for sure. Stay tuned.”
“All fighters are a possibility,” Wilder continued when asked of a potential fight with former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. “Ain’t nobody out, we’re having discussions with everybody, all the fighters, especially fighters at the top. Everybody in discussion so I want fighters to know that.
“Unfortunately, the business of boxing is what it is. And sometimes it gets slow but when it gets moving, it gets to moving. And right now, it’s just a process of getting things in order, locations, dates, and opponents, and getting everything together. So that takes time but know that no fighter is safe.”
Wilder, 37, indicated that he expects to return to the ring anytime between “May, June, and December.”