Deontay Wilder is reportedly planning a return to the ring despite receiving calls to retire from long-time foe Tyson Fury – but Anthony Joshua doesn’t agree with the Gypsy King’s assessment
Deontay Wilder is reportedly planning a major return to boxing – a move that Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua disagree on.
At 39, the Bronze Bomber holds a remarkable record of 43-4-1 in the squared circle, having clinched the WBC heavyweight crown in 2015, and defended it 10 times before ultimately relinquishing it to the Gypsy King. The two men initially met in December 2018, with Wilder defending his WBC belt via an incredibly tight split draw, before coming to blows again in February 2020.
This time, Fury saw his hand raised via a seventh-round TKO to take the title from Wilder before an eleventh-round knockout in their trilogy fight the following year in Fury’s favour diminished any hopes of the American putting himself in the championship picture. Wilder was once one of the world’s most feared heavyweights, but he now finds himself on a two-fight skid in 2025, which has left Fury calling for his retirement.
Wilder suffered a unanimous decision loss to Joseph Parker in December 2023 at Riyadh’s Kingdom Arena before finding himself on the receiving end of a fifth-round TKO at the hands of Zhilei Zhang last June at the same venue. As a result of his back-to-back losses, Fury told the Pound 4 Pound podcast: “Being truthful, I’d like to see poor old Deontay retire from boxing.
“Obviously, he lost the three fights to me. We took a lot of years off of each other’s lives. That war that ended in the 11th round by knockout, that takes a lot out your tank and you don’t recover from fights like that. Between me and Wilder in our trilogy there were 10 knockdowns. It takes a lot out of a fighter.
“Even when he’s come back and had a couple of fights since against Joseph Parker and Zhilei Zhang, he’s only a shadow of his former glory. The only thing left of Deontay is his name. And that’s it. So I’d like to see him retire for sure before he does damage to himself.”
Despite Fury’s assessment, Wilder is reportedly posed to announce his return to the ring – with boxing journalist Manouk Akopyan reporting that he’s looking at April for his next fight against an opponent who will be named in the near future.
Akopyan wrote on X: “I’m told @BronzeBomber will return for a comeback fight in April on BLK Prime. Wilder and manager Shelley Finkel will meet with the media in Los Angeles on Saturday to announce the opponent.”
The Gypsy King’s long-time rival Joshua has a different view on Wilder and whether he should retire from the sport. Speaking to DAZN about the prospect, AJ said: “It’s completely up to him, I can’t say.
“I just look at and say, ‘If you want to do it, do it’, it’s not a big deal boxing, if you want to fight, fight on, and if you don’t want to do it, don’t do it any more, it’s just where your heart’s at. He went in there against a good fighter in Zhilei, he’s an Olympian, Zhilei, people forget that.
“He’s come through, he’s got a great style. I fought him before in the Olympics and he’s still doing what he does now, so many years on. He was in with a real good, seasoned professional with a great pedigree. It doesn’t matter, come again if you want, and if you don’t, you’ve got your family there. There’s another life outside of boxing for him.”
