Deontay Wilder vs. Francis Ngannou? It could happen.
Ngannou made a successful return to MMA competition this past October with a thudding first-round knockout of Renan Ferreira at PFL Battle of the Giants. It was Ngannou’s first MMA fight since January 2022 as he parted ways with the UFC in 2023, signed with PFL, and then participated in a pair of high-profile boxing bouts against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.
After defeating Ferreira, Ngannou dedicated the win to his son Kobe, who died tragically this past April. He declined to comment on what his next move would be, though boxing remains on the table and Wilder is interested in negotiating a potential matchup of heavyweight stars.
“Even since I’ve been off, there’s been a lot of offers coming in,” Wilder told TMZ Sports. “A lot of things in different countries and stuff like that. Even with Francis, hope everything is going good for you, I’m sorry for your loss. I can only imagine what it’s like to lose a child. I never hope to even feel that feeling of it. I hope life is going beautiful for you, bro.”
“That’s a conversation I’m still looking to get in there in the mix and talk about,” Wilder added when asked about fighting Ngannou.
Wilder, a former WBC titleholder, is mired in the worst slump of his career with just one win in his past five outings. This past April, he lost to Zhilei Zhang via fifth-round TKO. The 39-year-old is still highly regarded for his finishing power, with all but one of his 43 career wins coming by way of KO/TKO.
Ngannou is 0-2 as a pro, though he was widely praised for scoring a knockdown of Fury en route to a controversial split decision loss. Against Joshua, his loss was more definitive as he was knocked out in the second round.
Regardless of what the official record says, Wilder won’t overlook Ngannou if they step into the ring together.
“Any fight is competitive,” Wilder said. “When you’ve got a man that’s got two hands and two feet and he’s got a heart, that will to win, you’ve got competition. You’ve got a fight on your hands. That’s why when you get in the ring you respect every man that steps in there. You just never know what dog he may bring to the fight.”
It’s unknown when Wilder will be able to compete as he told TMZ Sports he suffered an arm injury (“two tears in my shoulder”) in November 2023 ahead of losses to Zhang and Joseph Parker. Speaking about his recovery, Wilder is optimistic that he can continue to perform at high level.
“For me, the best is yet to come,” Wilder said. “We’re still going. We’re still here. We just get things together, I’m just handling a lot of things. I had a lot of outside distractions that I had to get rid of, a lot of burden upon me. I took care of a lot of people and it just became to a point where I just couldn’t do it no more. I’ve got seven kids of my own, I can’t take care of everybody.”
“Even the closest ones to me, I’ve been betrayed by so many people. It’s been a domino effect over the last five years. If anybody knows about betrayal, it’s worse than heartbreak.”
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