Deontay Wilder to face unbeaten Opetaia on Fury v Joshua undercard in Cardiff

Deontay Wilder, the former World Boxing Council heavyweight champion, will face unbeaten Australian cruiserweight world champion Jai Opetaia on the undercard of Tyson Fury’s showdown with Anthony Joshua in Cardiff on 11 December, organizers announced on Wednesday.

Opetaia will move up to heavyweight to take on one of history’s most devastating punchers at the Principality Stadium with the event streaming live worldwide on Netflix.

Wilder, 41, held the WBC’s version of the heavyweight title from 2015 to 2020, making 10 successful defenses before losing his belt to Fury. The American has a professional ledger of 45 wins, four defeats and one draw, with 43 victories coming by knockout.

The 2008 Olympic bronze medalist from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, appeared bound for retirement after a one-sided defeat to Joseph Parker followed by a brutal knockout loss to Zhilei Zhang in 2024, but has since breathed extended life into his career with wins over journeyman Tyrrell Anthony Herndon and two-time world title challenger Derek Chisora.

Opetaia, 31, is unbeaten in 31 professional outings and has established himself as the sport’s leading cruiserweight. The Australian southpaw captured the IBF world title with a victory over Mairis Briedis in 2022 and has since dominated all comers in the 200lb division.

A former Olympian who represented Australia at the 2012 London Games aged 16, the Sydneysider will be making his heavyweight debut against Wilder, who stands 6ft 7in and has spent his entire professional career in the division.

The matchup adds another high-profile contest to a card headlined by Fury and Joshua, whose long-awaited meeting was confirmed in September after years of unsuccessful negotiations.

“The co-main event is officially set,” Zuffa Boxing’s Dana White, whose disputed role in the promotion remains uncertain, said on social media. “These two guys have a combined 67 knockouts. You do not want to miss this fight.”

The undercard for Fury v Wilder will take place on a Friday night, with the main-event ringwalks at the Principality Stadium expected in the small hours of Saturday morning – widely reported to be around 2am.

That is to accommodate a prime-time American audience for Netflix, which will broadcast it globally after its preferred plan to stage the fight at New York’s Madison Square Garden was scuppered.

Both men are attempting to return to the summit of boxing’s prestige division after suffering two defeats apiece against Oleksandr Usyk, the unbeaten former undisputed heavyweight champion from Ukraine who relinquished his remaining world title belts in June but insists he has not retired. Fury has won twice since returning to the ring, while Joshua has spent the year rebuilding after his knockout loss to Daniel Dubois in 2024.

The rivals came closest to meeting for the undisputed championship in 2021, but the fight collapsed after a US arbitrator ruled Fury was contractually obligated to face Wilder for a third time.

Joshua subsequently lost his titles to Usyk, with several attempts to revive the Fury contest falling apart in the years since.