Deontay Wilder vs. Jake Paul…In A Cage? Wilder-Ngannou in a Ring? WTF?

There’s a world of evidence to support the fact that Deontay Wilder is done as a fighter.

The former WBC heavyweight champion is coming off back-to-back disastrous showings– a fifth-round TKO at the hands of Zhilei Zhang this past June and, six months before that, a passive points loss to Joseph Parker.

The 38-year-old is actually 1-4 in his last five fights with three brutal beatings suffered in those five bouts after a long 10-defense run as WBC champ.

He’s earned the right to ride off into the sunset with dignity and, hopefully, he’s earned enough money to live comfortably for the rest of his life.

As this writer put it previously:

“In Wilder, we have a man who gambled on a life in the cruelest of all sports in order to better provide for his disabled daughter. And despite a late, late start in the sport (he began training at 20 years of age), he won a National Golden Gloves title in just his 16th amateur fight, he won the U.S. Olympic trials in just his 21st amateur bout, and then earned a bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Games. He would go on to win the WBC heavyweight title as a pro and successfully defend that belt ten times.

If that’s not a feel-good success story in your eyes, you need to get some therapy or, better yet, just go and f**k off.”

Yet, combat sports can’t seem to let him go.

Former UFC heavyweight champ and two-fight pro boxer Francis Ngannou was asked about fighting Wilder while at a recent Professional Fighters League (PFL) event, ahead of his PFL MMA debut this October.

“Absolutely. I would love that fight,” Ngannou said of a boxing match with Wilder. “Pure boxing, don’t be delusional here. That’s where we both stand a chance. But if we go to MMA, only one man will stand a chance. It’s a fight that I want; I have always wanted the fight. At some point, we had a discussion that didn’t go too far. But we wanted to make this fight happen.”

The idea of an Ngannou-Wilder bout has been tossed around for awhile, even after the former UFC star was knocked out by Anthony Joshua and Wilder was humbled by Zhang.

And, unfortunately, it’s still a viable pay-per-view possibility with enough commercial promise to get somebody, somewhere interested in making the fight.

The PFL people seem somewhat fixated on getting Wilder into one of their fights.

“I’d like to see Deontay in the cage…that’ll be exciting,” PFL CEO Peter Murray recently told SunSport.

The PFL’s big thing is trying to make fights using “hybrid” combat rules, a vague concept that could see fighters competing in mixed-rules boxing/MMA bouts.

Wilder, who once showed up at a PFL event and expressed an interest in trying MMA, piqued the interest of PFL owner Donn Davis, who would like nothing more than to stage the Ngannou-Wilder spectacle under his company’s banner.

“We welcome that fight, we’re fully financed to do that fight and I think it would be exciting if that fight came together,” Davis told TalkSport. “I think he [Wilder] was pretty clear that he finds it interesting and a possibility.”

In an article posted this past Friday, The Sun even teased the ridiculous idea of a “hybrid” rules fight between Wilder and PFL contract player/novice boxer/Influencer Jake Paul which, apparently, is not as ridiculous to some as it should be.

The reality is that Wilder still has a bankable name and, honestly, is seen as a vulnerable target at this point, delivering big reward for relatively low risk. There’s a line formed to exploit him and, consequently, further put his health at risk.

Hopefully, there’s also a line formed to protect Wilder from himself.