The gauntlet has been thrown down by the current WBC interim Bridgerweight champion. Since being promoted from interim to full champ in October (after Lawrence Okolie moved up to heavyweight and officially vacated) Lerena has been calling out Wilder for the last two months to move down a division and challenge for his belt. Wilder and trainer Malik Scott confirmed recently that he will return in 2025, but hasn't committed to a specific date nor opponent being targeted. The former WBC heavyweight champion has lost four of his last five. Lerena himself is coming off a defeat to Justis Huni up at HW. Seven years the American's junior, the South African southpaw would be giving up 5" of height and 9" of reach. 2022 was the best recent year for both men, in terms of form. Wilder scored a KO1 blitz over Robert Helenius in his only victory since 2019, and Lerena dropped Daniel Dubois thrice before ultimately succumbing to a TKO3 loss - as well as shutting out Mariusz Wach and stopping Bogdan Dinu.
Wilder in his prime would obliterate Lerena but his days are long gone. ATM, I think it would be an ugly scrappy fight with either fighter getting a narrow decision.
Lerena shatters that fragile mandible. If Dustin Nichols can put him on the canvas and Harold Sconiers can put him on ***** street, Lerena should put him in dreamland.
Wildet usually weighs 215...is that the top of the BW class? Surely he couldn't weigh any less; his legs are already chicken sized.
The 4 things that have ruined Wilder: 1. Malik Scott as a trainer - Wilder has 1 win and 3 losses with Scott. 2. The Fury trilogy - entertaining fights for sure, but these likely took years off of both fighters. 3. Inactivity - 5 fights in the last 5 years. That's pathetic. 4. Age - he's 39. That's retirement age for most fighters. You can see it in his fights against Parker and Zhang. He's a shell of his former self. The fire is gone. And frankly, he didn't even look like he wanted to be there. I really don't see Wilder winning against any half way decent fighter ever again. He should retire while he's still got most of his brain cells intact.
