Deontay Wilder, the undefeated heavyweight who holds the WBC title belt, said on ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights he wants a unification fight with Wladimir Klitschko.
Deontay Wilder is less than a month removed from claiming the WBC heavyweight title and he’s already talking unification bout.
Wilder, who took the belt from Bermane Stiverne via a 12-round unanimous decision in Las Vegas on Jan. 17, is now 33-0 and the bout with Stiverne was his first that did not end by knockout.
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And now he wants to fight Ukrainian Wladimir Klitschko, who holds the WBA Super champion belt as well as those from the IBF, WBO and The Ring magazine, to unify the title.
It’s been almost 15 years since there was a undisputed heavyweight champion. Lennox Lewis was the last, holding the WBC, WBA and IBF belts from November 1999 through April 2000.
The title split again when Lewis was stripped of the WBA title because of a dispute over when he would face the WBA’s No. 1 contender, John Ruiz.
“Klitschko will be the overall ‘see if he’s the real deal, this is the real champion’ fight for me,” Wilder said. “That fight is labeled not an ‘if’ fight, but when it will happen. It won’t be years and years dragged out, but will happen to unify the division.
“It was a long time since anyone unified all of the titles; I want to be there to bring back that history for the heavyweight division. I have all of the potential, the total package to do it and bring it back.”
The entire segment is here:
Every recognized heavyweight champ from 1922 through 1964 was considered undisputed, a list including icons Jack Dempsey, Gene Tunney, Rocky Marciano, Floyd Patterson and Muhammad Ali.
But there have been just five undisputed champions since 1987—Mike Tyson, Buster Douglas, Evander Holyfield, Riddick Bowe and Lewis.
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