Sometimes the best thing and the worst thing are the same thing. Ask any boxer what the best outcome for a fight they are competing in would be, and they would say, “To win.” A draw or a loss does not typically move a fighter forward. But when is it best not to move forward?
That is what I was thinking after former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (45-4-1, 43 KOs) won by split decision in a sloppy, but entertaining fight, against Derek Chisora, he of the 36-14 record, Saturday night.
Chisora is one of those boxers who fills out a weight class. He’s no world beater, but he gives his division depth. Chisora has fought for a belt once, when he took on Tyson Fury for the WBC title in December of 2022. While Chisora hung in the fight for nearly ten full rounds, Fury dispatched him with a TKO at the 2:51 mark of the tenth. This sort of result is typical for Chisora. Put him up against the tip-top of the food chain, and he gets eaten.
Chisora has three losses against Fury, going the distance only once. He has been defeated by David Haye, Vitali Klitschko, Dillian Whyte (X2), Agit Kabayal, Oleksandr Usyk, Joseph Parker (X2), and now Wilder. The best result of Chisora’s career is probably his split decision victory over Kubrat Pulev, which avenged an earlier loss to the Bulgarian. Or, maybe his unanimous decision win over Joe Joyce last year.
Make no mistake, Chisora is a competitive fighter, but he is not a great one. When he fights someone on the A list, or just below it, he usually loses. In Chisora’s last five bouts, he holds a meager record of 5-5. At the age of 42, there is no reason to think that Chisora is on the ascent. More likely, he’s trying to squeeze out every last payday he can. But he’s a stepping stone now. He’s an opponent.
Chisora was Wilder’s latest opponent two nights ago. Wilder is no spring chicken himself, having seen both digits turn over in October of last year from 39 to 40. Wilder’s ambitions are greater than Derek Chisora’s. The former WBC heavyweight champion (2015-2020) has been desperately trying to regain the status he once held over half a decade ago. To be clear, it has not gone well.
Counting his seventh-round KO loss to Tyson Fury in 2020, the formerly undefeated Wilder has lost four of his last seven fights. In three of those fights (two with Fury and one with Zhilei Zhang), Wilder has been brutally knocked out. In each of those losses that didn’t go the distance, Wilder suffered the kind of beating that makes you question whether a fighter should continue. A lopsided decision loss to Joseph Parker in 2023 offered no encouragement, either, as Parker had Wilder hurt multiple times during the 12-rounder.
The three wins Wilder has accrued in his last seven fights have the look of fool’s gold. A first-round KO over former contender Robert Helenius in 2022 might look good on paper, but the then-38-year-old Fin was well past his “sell by date” and retired the next year after being knocked out by Anthony Joshua. Wilder’s last win was a TKO over 38-year-old journeyman Tyrell Anthony Herndon. How much of a journeyman is Herndon? The 24-6 fighter doesn’t even have an active Wikipedia page. If you take a look at his history of opponents on Box Rec, you’ll have no trouble understanding why.
By beating Chisora and Herndon, Wilder now has two wins in a row. Some may call that a streak. I would call it an illusion. Against Chisora, Wilder scored two knockdowns against his opponent, but Chisora was able to absorb them and hurt Wilder multiple times throughout the fight. Conditioning, always a factor for Wilder, was once again a problem as the former champ often looked exhausted from the middle rounds on. In no way does Wilder look like a contender except for the long-shot chance of landing his huge right hand.
After the fight, reports surfaced that Wilder will next fight either former IBF, IBO, WBO, and WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua or the rising 14-0 (with 12 KOs) British prospect Moses Itauma. A fight with Joshua would surely result in a massive payday, and Joshua’s oft-challenged chin gives Wilder the fabled puncher’s chance. One could argue that a tilt against Itauma is the riskier scrap considering Wilder is nearly twice the age of the Brit (by way of Slovakia) up-and-comer. Itauma’s last two fights resulted in a fifth-round TKO over the solid (27-3) Jermaine Franklin last month, handing the Saginaw fighter his first loss by knockout. Last August, Itauma destroyed Dillian Whyte by first-round KO in Saudi Arabia.
Neither fight is one Wilder should take. The Bronze Bomber’s net worth has been listed as somewhere between 30 and 40 million dollars. A fight with Joshua would likely come with an eight-digit payout. A fight with Itauma would likely be worth less than half of that.
Joshua-Wilder is a fight we’ve long wanted to see, but I think it’s been too long now. Both fighters are past their prime and should have met in the ring years ago. Both have also suffered painful losses in recent years. Wilder is certainly no Jake Paul, but that’s part of the problem. He won’t run from Joshua as the carnival boxer did. Joshua will be able to find him. Or maybe Wilder will find Joshua first and have a reason to keep fighting and keep chasing big paydays.
I know that, at the age of 40, and considering his recent performances over the last six years, Wilder does not look like a guy who needs to take more shots to the head. He got lucky Saturday night against Derek Chisora. He ended the fight on his feet. He even won.
But did he? Only time will tell, but the tale of the boxer who sticks around too long only ends one way: in sadness.
Deontay Wilder has already passed the “too long” mile marker. The road ahead is treacherous.
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