Deontay Wilder has been accused of “running” from a former world title challenger, who hopes their heavyweight encounter can finally come to fruition.
The 40-year-old returned to action earlier this month, edging a split decision against fellow veteran Derek Chisora after flooring his man on two occasions.
It was a scrappy affair for the most part, yet Wilder left many believing that he is capable of securing at least one more notable victory, before finally sailing into the sunset.
In fairness, it was a vastly improved performance to what he produced against Joseph Parker and Zhilei Zhang, who outpointed and stopped him in 2023 and 2024, respectively.
In that same breath, though, it must be said that the former world champion is a far cry from the man who twice dropped Tyson Fury in 2021, before ultimately suffering an 11th-round stoppage defeat.
Another fighter who many consider to be nearing the end, meanwhile, is Dillian Whyte, who has not fought since his first-round stoppage defeat to Moses Itauma in August.
For a brief time, the Londoner was regarded as a genuine world-level contender, but now appears to be sitting on the brink of retirement.
Before finally calling it quits, though, the 38-year-old has told Impact Boxing that he is more than willing to hang around for a potential dustup with Wilder.
“I would love to fight Deontay Wilder; I’ve been trying to fight him for half of my career.
“The little b**ch [has] been running. So yeah, let’s see.”
Whyte challenged for the WBC heavyweight title against Fury in 2022, but came up short as he suffered a sixth-round stoppage loss.