When Deontay Wilder talks about his fighting prime, what he is perhaps really talking about is his fighting pride.
When, for instance, he refutes any suggestion that his prime has passed, and argues instead that he is in fact entering it, these can be considered the words of a 40-year-old heavyweight clinging on to what is left of his skills, his ambition and, yes, his pride.
They can also be construed as the words of a man who is not yet done and whose ability to sell – both himself and future fights – has all of a sudden become important again. Wilder is, after all, supposedly in contention to fight Oleksandr Usyk, the world heavyweight champion, in 2026, which is a task so daunting, in theory, it will require from Wilder every ounce of both his imagination and delusion.
According to Usyk, the best there is, a fight with Wilder is one of the few remaining things he wants to tick off his bucket list. It is for that reason Wilder has emerged as an unlikely candidate to challenge the Ukrainian this year. It is for that reason, too, that Wilder, when recently interviewed on YouTube channel Cigar Talk, said, “I’m in my prime now,” as if to simultaneously stake his claim for the fight and gaslight the world.
It certainly flew in the face of what we have seen in the past five years from Wilder, that comment. It also defies logic, for very few fighters, even those at heavyweight, enter or enjoy their prime years at the age of 40.
Then again, Wilder, 44-4-1 (43 KOs), is a heavyweight like no other. “I started boxing very late,” he chose to remind us. “I started at 21.”
Because of that, yes, he has very much been learning on the job since he turned professional in 2008. Some would even say that he is still learning now – technically speaking – and that with experience he will have naturally improved various elements of his game throughout the years.
Yet, be that as it may, the natural development of a fighter as their career progresses cannot nullify the results the fighter collects along the way. In the case of Wilder, no amount of experience accumulated, or new skills learned, can force those with eyes to ignore the fact that he has lost four of his last six pro fights (three by stoppage) and looked increasingly vulnerable with each defeat.
Which begs the question: Why, then, would Wilder believe he is somehow immune to the damage of defeat and now in his prime at the age of 40? Moreover, if the rest of us are correct, and Wilder’s day has indeed passed, when exactly was his day? When, in a career of highlight-reel knockouts and dramatic defeats, was the former WBC heavyweight champion from Tuscaloosa truly in his fighting prime?
2013: When he blitzed Audley Harrison and Siarhei Liakhovich inside a round
In 2013, Wilder started the year with a record of 26-0, with each of those 26 wins coming inside the distance. He was, back then, considered more a novelty act, or curiosity, than a potential heavyweight champion, but this was mainly on account of the lack of familiar names on his record and the uncertainty in others this created.
In 2013, however, things picked up a bit. Although the year may have started with Matthew Greer, another journeyman (whom Wilder finished in two rounds), Wilder then kicked into gear after that, stopping Audley Harrison, the 2000 Olympic gold medallist, inside a round of a fight in England. Following that, he did the same to Siarhei Liakhovich, a former WBO champion. That, at the time, was by far the best win of Wilder’s career and the manner of the knockout alerted many to the chilling power the American possessed.
2015: When he dominated Bermane Stiverne over 12 rounds to become WBC champion
It might seem strange to suggest that evidence of a knockout artist’s prime can be found in a 12-round decision win, yet still it is a theory worth exploring in the context of Deontay Wilder’s career. After all, until he had done it, many felt Wilder was incapable of (a) outboxing an opponent and (b) going the distance. By then doing both these things against a lacklustre Stiverne in 2015, Wilder showed new elements to his game, as well as a maturity and patience plenty of critics felt he didn’t possess. The win also bagged him the WBC heavyweight title, so remains one of the major high points in his career.
2018: When he stopped Luis Ortiz from a losing position and drew with Tyson Fury
The suspicion with Wilder was that he would one day come unstuck when sharing the ring with a technically superior fighter who could punish the many technical mistakes Wilder made in pursuit of a knockout. Which is why many were fearful for him when Cuba’s Luis Ortiz earned a shot at Wilder in 2018. It wasn’t just that Ortiz was unbeaten and therefore full of confidence. He was also one of the best technicians in the division at the time and a southpaw to boot.
The concerns of Wilder’s supporters were more than justified. They were justified beforehand, when we imagined the two fighters sharing the ring, and they were then realised when we watched the fight play out and witnessed Ortiz find Wilder an easy target to hit and his right hand an easy missile to avoid. That was until round 10, of course, when Wilder finally found his range, cracked Ortiz with his best shot, and everything we thought we knew – about boxing, about styles, about Wilder-Ortiz – was called into question.
A similar thing happened later that same year, in December, when Wilder again found himself befuddled by a better technician. On this occasion that technician was Tyson Fury, who seemed for all the world to be on his way to a comfortable decision win as the pair entered the 12th and final round. However, as with Ortiz before him, Fury discovered that for as long as Wilder is permitted to keep throwing punches, he is liable to turn a fight on its head. In this case, that meant Fury walking on to big shots from Wilder in round 12, one of which dropped the “Gypsy King” with a thud and appeared as though it had delivered Wilder the unlikeliest of wins. Instead, Fury somehow pulled himself upright before the count of 10 and the pair settled for a rather unsatisfactory draw.
2019: When he crushed Dominic Breazeale inside a round, then repeated the trick on Luis Ortiz
If it felt as though Wilder had been “exposed” a little in 2018, if only by virtue of the sheer number of rounds he lost that year, he did return to normal service in 2019, when demolishing fellow American Dominic Breazeale with a typically vicious first-round knockout. That win then led to a rematch with Ortiz, whose spectre loomed large and who was convinced he would have defeated Wilder had he not become careless and lost concentration in round 10 of their first encounter.
Again, when the pair met for a second time, a similar pattern emerged: Ortiz outboxed Wilder early and gained the upper hand, only for Wilder to bide his time and strike when the moment presented itself. This time the moment arrived in round seven, but everything that preceded it was the same, almost note for note, as what preceded Wilder’s 10th-round stoppage of Ortiz the previous year. It was confirmation, more than anything, of his freakish ability to counteract both technical excellence and a score deficit with the swing of a right hand.
2025: When he beat Tyrell Herndon in seven rounds to end a run of back-to-back defeats
According to the man himself, a 2025 stoppage of the unheralded Tyrell Herndon (in round seven) should mark the start of his fighting prime. Only now, Wilder said, is a late-starter like him truly able to show everything he has learned to date and display in the process a maturity and understanding he might have lacked during his run as WBC heavyweight champion. The many defeats he has recently suffered are, to his mind, not red flags or indications he should perhaps stop. They were instead lessons. Nothing more, nothing less. They happened, these lessons, in order to make him sharpen up, tighten up, and work harder. That is precisely what he has done, too, he claims, as yet another big opportunity somehow appears on the horizon in the shape of Oleksandr Usyk. However, only in bigger fights against bigger names will we know for sure whether a 40-year-old version of Deontay Wilder is the best version of Deontay Wilder or merely the version best equipped to sell damaged goods in a time of desperation.
