Former world heavyweight champion, Deontay Wilder, has accepted the challenge to a fight in 2026 thrown by current undisputed king of the division, Oleksandr Usyk, reports standard.co.uk.

Usyk wants to put his WBC, WBA and IBF belts on the line against the American, whom he has described as “one of the great heavyweights of the last 10 years.”

Usyk has not fought since beating Daniel Dubois in July to become undisputed world champion for the second time, and has been linked with a trilogy fight against Tyson Fury, whom he has twice beaten in the past.

But it is big-hitting Wilder that Usyk has named as his preferred opponent for 2026. Wilder has welcomed the proposition.
“Usyk is a great champion,” Wilder’s co-manager Shelly Finkel told Sky Sports. “We have plans for next year and we’d like Oleksandr Usyk to be part of them.

“If we receive the right offer, we would be open to that fight.”

After beating Dubois, Usyk was ordered by the WBO to fight their interim champion at the time, Joseph Parker, but the Ukrainian delayed the fight by citing injury.

Parker went on to fight British fighter Fabio Wardley to determine who would become WBO mandatory challenger to Usyk, and lost.