Deontay Wilder Says He’ll Be ‘Very Surprised’ If Oleksandr Usyk Sticks To His Word And Fights Him

Deontay Wilder isn’t sure Oleksandr Usyk will actually fight him.

Wilder returned to the ring on Saturday and scored a violent first-round knockout over Robert Helenius. It marked his first fight since he suffered back-to-back stoppage losses to Tyson Fury and in the lead-up to the fight, Usyk wanted to be ringside and face the winner.

However, Wilder will first need to fight Andy Ruiz Jr. but should he win that, the Usyk fight makes sense. Yet, Deontay Wilder is not sure if the fight will happen as he doesn’t think Usyk will stick to his word after that brutal KO.

“I think it’s gonna be very difficult,” Wilder said during his post-fight press conference early Sunday morning. “I’ll be very surprised if he stick to his word. You know, I’m a man of my word. I abide by principles, morals and goals. They say that if you don’t believe in something, you’ll fall for anything. And I believe in something. You know, and the last champion that came to a fight that said he would give me a fight, he went the other way after a devastating knockout.

“You know what I’m saying? We talkin’ about Joseph Parker. You know, so we’ll see what happens. And I’m gonna keep Usyk to his word,” Wilder continued. “You know, we’ll be calling his team, you know, and whoever his handler is, and we’re gonna see what’s up. And if he a man of his word, what a hell of a fight it would be.”

Deontay Wilder (43-2-1) returned to the win column after the losses to Fury, as mentioned. ‘The Bronze Bomber’ is the former WBC heavyweight champion and holds notable wins over Luis Ortiz, Gerald Washington, Dominic Breazeale, Malik Scott, and Chris Arreola among others.

Do you think Deontay Wilder and Oleksandr Usyk will fight?