Deontay Wilder warned against facing heavyweight
Former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder has been warned by a pundit, following Wilder’s recent statements that showed he was interested in going into the ring with the pugilist.
Deontay Wilder is set to meet Joseph Parker on December 23 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for his first professional bout since knocking out Robert Helenius over a year ago. His other recent fights include those against Luis Ortiz and Dominic Breazeale, in which he also emerged as the winner. However, the American was knocked out twice by Tyson Fury in the last two episodes of their trilogy, in which he lost his heavyweight title.
Wilder recently disclosed his desire to face new boxer Francis Ngannou in the octagon, but Carl Froch has warned him against doing that.
‘He needs to concentrate on getting AJ in the ring. That’s a massive fight, but I’d advise him against facing Ngannou in the cage. That’s a recipe for disaster. He wants to stay well clear of Ngannou.
‘He’s got long, skinny chicken legs, and as soon as he takes a kick to the knee or the shin, he’s going to be bang in trouble, so unless he’s got some jiu jitsu background, I’d say absolutely avoid that.
‘It’s a different discipline. I’d tell him to stay well clear of it. He’s designed for throwing long, heavy punches, not rolling around on the floor having a grapple; I think he’d get snapped in half.’
Here are Wilder’s exact words before the warning: ‘I’m thinking about doing both, UFC and boxing. To keep the activity alive and keep it going.
‘I’ll be a dangerous man in the UFC, bro. With those four-ounce gloves? I broke the f***ing hitting bag machine with those four-ounce gloves on. That was some real stuff.’
Francis Ngannou recently knocked down the present WBC heavyweight king, Tyson Fury, in the third round of their ten-round bout in a match that was Ngannou’s debut.