Fisher Reveals He Was Offered Wilder Fight

Before Oleksandr Usyk identified Deontay Wilder as his farewell opponent, Wilder was being discussed for a completely different fight — and Johnny Fisher was ready to take it.

Fisher revealed to About Boxing that Matchroom had come to him with the offer before his contract with the promotion expired, and the details were specific enough to suggest it was more than exploratory conversation.

"There was talks, a couple of weeks before my contract was up, Eddie FaceTimed me with Turki Alalshikh and he said, 'Wilder, Istanbul, end of August?' So I was like, 'yeah, no problem.'"

The fight never happened. Fisher explained the collapse in terms familiar to anyone who has watched boxing negotiations unravel.

"They made me a few offers with different things, they were trying to get fights to happen and, for whatever reason, they weren't materialising. At one point it was going to be Wilder — of course I was up for that. That didn't happen because of the politics of boxing. Sometimes Turki can say one thing and think that it's going to happen, but through no one's fault, other things happen in boxing that mean a fight, even when they are announced on social media, collapses."

For Fisher, a fight with Wilder would have represented a significant step up at a stage of his career where he is building toward the upper end of the British heavyweight scene.

Wilder's current trajectory has moved in a different direction since then. He returned to the United Kingdom in April for the first time in 13 years and beat Derek Chisora on a split decision, his second consecutive win following a stretch that included the Fury trilogy's final chapter.

The Usyk fight represents a different kind of opportunity for Wilder than Fisher would have. Usyk's plans have now overtaken everyone else's where Wilder is concerned.