With Deontay Wilder now long in the tooth but at least back in the win column, talks are swirling about a potential fight between Wilder and MMA fighter Francis Ngannou. Ngannou was completely flattened by Anthony Joshua over a year ago but that hasn’t made him shy away from the notion of getting back in there with another boxing name. Wilder’s manager acknowledges their interest in that fight happening in 2026
.Shelly Finkel, Wilder’s manager, told Sky Sports: “Deontay would be open to that fight
next year.”
Wilder, of course, is far past his best days and also not the fighter that instilled extreme concern in his opponents with his reputation for being one of the hardest punchers in boxing history. At age 39 Wilder may have scored a stoppage win in a get-well fight against Tyrrell Herndon over the summer, but it was far from a spectacular performance that’s going to have folks looking past his last string of outings. Wilder has been knocked out in three of his last six fights, and the last semblance of the fighter we once knew hasn’t been since since 2022.
Of course this only makes a potential fight between Wilder and Ngannou all the more competitive considering that Ngannou himself is not a boxer and has lost the only two professional boxing fights he’s ever had, against Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury. This fight is likely an easier path for Ngannou than his last two opponents in the boxing, and perhaps some might even give him a real chance to win considering how fast past it Wilder appears to be.
For now we’ll just have to wait and see if talks for this gain any traction.
