Deontay Wilder is coming to Northern Ireland this weekend. The WBC heavyweight champion will be ringside at Windsor Park on Saturday to watch lineal world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, his scheduled next opponent.
Wilder announced on social media on Sunday night that he will be in Belfast for Carl Frampton’s WBO interim featherweight world title defence against Luke Jackson and Paddy Barnes’ WBC world flyweight title challenge against Nicaragua’s Cristofer Rosales.
But the main focus of the undefeated 32-year-old (40-0, 39 KOs) will be the performance of former unified king Tyson Fury.
Fury takes on Francesco Pianeta over 10 rounds and a convincing win in the Titanic city should see his promoter Frank Warren confirm a pre-Christmas showdown with Wilder.
The card at the weekend will be shown live on BT Sport on this side of the Atlantic, with American viewers having access to the bill via the Showtime Sports Facebook page.
Fury made his return to the ring back in June following a 924-day period of exile after beating Wladimir Klitschko to claim the IBF, IBO, WBA Super, WBO and Ring Magazine titles in Dusseldorf, Germany, in November 2015.
And having recently described himself as “the best talker, mover, puncher, dancer, singer and the best looking” in an interview with Gareth A Davies for the Sunday Telegraph, the 30-year-old self-styled Gypsy King will be looking to put on a show in his second fight in as many months ahead of a tussle with Wilder.
A date in late November is under consideration for the fight, with Las Vegas, Nevada, set to be named as the location.
Also on the ‘The Jackal’s Den’ undercard, Steven Ward meets Stevie Collins Jr. in a clash for the vacant Boxing Union of Ireland Celtic light-heavyweight title, while WBO European middleweight champion Luke Keeler is in action.
There are debut outings for Steven Donnelly and Sean McComb as Conrad Cummings returns alongside Sam Maxwell, Marco McCullough and knockout king Lewis Crocker.
