Deontay Wilder’s team react to reports he’ll face Usyk in front of record crowd

Deontay Wilder’s manager, Shelly Finkel, has responded to reports suggesting that his client’s next outing, against Oleksandr Usyk, is set to become the most-attended boxing event in history.

The teams of Wilder and Usyk have reportedly been in negotiations to stage their expected heavyweight showdown in America, possibly at some point this summer.

But while that, indeed, appears to be the case, it seems that any suggestion of a clash in San Francisco on July 11 is nothing more than speculatory.

This rather misleading news came after Ed Pereira, the CEO of new promotional outfit iVisit Boxing, announced that he plans to stage such an event.

But instead of revealing Usyk-Wilder as the headline act, Pereira merely declared his desire to break the world-record attendance for any boxing match, which currently stands at 135,132.

Several outlets then leapt to the conclusion that Usyk-Wilder – which would see the Ukrainian defend his WBC, IBF and WBA titles – must be in play for such an ambitious event.

But now, boxing reporter Dan Rafael has confirmed via X that any such discussions – or at least, those involving Wilder’s long-time manager, Finkel – have not taken place.

“[Wilder’s] manager, Shelly Finkel, told me [on Thursday] night that there has been no discussion of doing Usyk-Wilder with Ed Pereira. None, and that he doesn’t know the guy [Pereira] at all.”

Usyk has not fought since his fifth-round stoppage victory over Daniel Dubois in July 2025, back when he became a three-time undisputed champion.

Several weeks prior to that, former world champion Wilder returned with a seventh-round finish over Tyrrell Herndon, which followed his defeats to Joseph Parker and Zhilei Zhang.

It therefore came as a mini surprise when Usyk initially named Wilder, who many deem to be on the slide at 40 years old, as his targeted next opponent.