WBC heavyweight boxing champion Deontay Wilder will not be facing Joseph Parker in his next bout.
Wilder (37-0, 36Kos) is now scheduled to fight Polish pugilist Andrzej Wawrzyk (33-1) on February 25 in Birmingham, Alabama.
It’s Wilder’s first contest since July 2016, when he sustained bicep and hand injuries in his knockout victory over Chris Arreola. It will be his fifth title defence since winning the WBC belt in January 2015 against Bermane Stiverne.
Duco Events owner David Higgins recently called out Wilder, wanting a unification bout with Parker for his WBO crown, but that fight now appears to be a long way off.
An already chaotic heavyweight division received another blow last weekend when Stiverne’s fight with heavyweight Alexander Povetkin was cancelled after the Russian tested positive for a banned substance.
While Wawrzyk has an impressive fight history on paper, his record is considered beefed up, with no names of note. His one defeat was to Povetkin in May 2013.
Other names in the mix to fight Parker are two Englishmen, Hughie Fury and David Haye.
While Haye is fighting Tony Bellew on March 4, he is the next mandatory challenger in line with the WBO.
Despite his grudge match with Bellew, he could invoke an extension to guarantee a fight with Parker later in the year.
However, Fury has already called out the Kiwi and is desperate for a contest in the first quarter of 2017.
Newshub.
