Former world heavyweight champion (over 90.7 kg), American Deontay Wilder (44-4-1, 43 KOs) shared his expectations for the upcoming fight against WBC, WBA and IBF titleholder Oleksandr Usyk (24-0, 15 KOs).

“You know my next opponent. Usyk challenged me to a fight. He said he wanted to meet me in the ring. I accepted the challenge. “I push horses” and “I feel it, I feel it hard.”

What’s my plan? Be smart, be faster, use my agility, be tough, get in the ring and knock him out. I am known for my strength, I need to show it. “I’ve been through a tough journey in my life, but I’m back and ready to beat Usyk,” Wilder said.

The American had 49 fights in the professional ring and won 44 victories (43 of them ahead of schedule). In June, Wilder knocked out his compatriot Tyrell Herndon, ending his two defeats in 2023 and 2024.

Usyk last appeared in the ring in July, when he stopped Briton Daniel Dubois. The Ukrainian became the absolute world champion but lost a title by refusing to defend his WBO belt in October.

Absolute world champion in the second lightweight category Naoya Inoue After beating David, Picasso commented on his place in the pound-for-pound rankings.

Inoue said, “Yes Usyk came to watch my fight. But I should have done much better in the fight. So I won’t say anything about the P4P rankings, I will do much better next time.”

On Saturday, December 27, a large-scale Ring V boxing night was held at the Mohammed Abdo Arena in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia). The main event of the show was the fight for the title of absolute world champion, where Japanese star Naoya Inoue and Mexican rival Alan David Picasso fought. The Japanese boxer managed to win a convincing victory – the fight went through all 12 rounds.

Japanese boxer after fight in Riyadh Naoya Inoue He shared his impressions of his victory over Mexican David Picasso (119–109, 120–108, 117–111):

“Honestly, I’m tired. The point wasn’t that I had four fights a year, it was that I had to prepare very hard for each of those four fights. When you’re in this process, you tolerate it because you only think about the fight, but now that it’s over, I see that I definitely gave it everything I had.”

“I don’t want to disrespect Picasso, but I wanted to show the difference between us a little more clearly and knock him out. I couldn’t meet the expectations and I couldn’t box the way I wanted. Nothing has been decided yet, but I would be happy to organize a fight that will excite the whole of Japan.”

Japanese Junto Nakatani He talked about his victory over Sebastian Hernandez (118-110, 115-113, 115-113):

“This fight was an experience for me. I moved up to this weight class to win a championship, so if I get that chance, I want to take it.”