Could circumstances bring Deontay Wilder and Kevin Lerena together?

Wilder is nearly five years removed from the last time he held a heavyweight title, is coming off a big loss and is on the outskirts of the weight class for the first time in a very long time.

Kevin Lerena, meanwhile, is in need of a big fight at bridgerweight, a nascent division founded by the WBC a few years back. 

With a weight limit of 224 pounds, bridgerweight is situated between the cruiserweights (200-pound limit) and heavyweights (limitless). But while the WBA has followed the WBC’s lead in creating a belt for the division, bridgerweight has not yet been able to attract or retain many notable names.

Indeed, the previous WBC titleholder, Lawrence Okolie, recently vacated his title and is headed to heavyweight rather than face Lerena. That meant Lerena has been upgraded from interim titleholder to the full titleholder.

And he wants his first defense to come against Wilder.

“I’d be more than happy to give Wilder the opportunity to face me if he’s willing to make the move down,” Lerena told Phil Jay of World Boxing News.

Wilder (43-4-1, 42 KOs) captured his first world title in January 2015 and captivated with his tremendous power — a combination of lightning speed and heavy hands that could, and often did, take a fight Wilder was struggling in and end it in his favor in an instant.

He went 9-0-1 in a series of defenses between 2015 and 2019. That draw came against Tyson Fury in 2018. And it was Fury who brought Wilder’s time at the top to an end, stopping Wilder in seven rounds in their February 2020 rematch. Their third fight was a back-and-forth battle, but Fury triumphed again with an 11th-round knockout in 2021.

Wilder came back in 2022 with a quick victory over Robert Helenius. He hasn’t won since. Wilder was rather passive while being out-boxed by Joseph Parker in December 2023, and then he was flattened in five rounds by Zhilei Zhang this June.

He turns 39 in the coming days. According to Wilder’s trainer, there are no plans to retire.

The heavyweight division is full of talent, which means plenty of potentially lucrative opportunities. If he opts to drop down to bridgerweight, though, it shouldn’t take a toll on his body. Wilder, while 6-foot-7, has often been remarkably lean. In his recent outings he came in between 213 and 214.5 pounds, which would put him comfortably within the bridgerweight limit.

Lerena (30-3, 14 KOs), stands 6-foot-1 and is a former cruiserweight contender who has danced with the heavyweights before.

In 2022, Lerena knocked out Bogdan Dinu, outpointed Mariusz Wach, and lost to Daniel Dubois.

In 2023, Lerena outpointed Ryad Merhy in a bridgerweight elimination bout and then took a unanimous decision over Senad Gashi for the interim title.

This March, Lerena returned to heavyweight and lost to Justis Huni. He was able to hurt Huni early and late but couldn’t put Huni away, and the scorecards went in his opponent’s favor.

The WBC’s top 15 bridgerweights are, in order: Adam Balski, Andrew Tabiti, Merhy, Lukasz Rozanski, Kris Terzievski, Carlouse Welch, Serhiy Radchenko, Alexis Barriere, Tom Schwarz, Nikodem Jezewski, Alexander Nedbei, Bohdan Myronets, Tommy Welch, Mihai Nistor and Davide Brito.

It’s no wonder, then, that Lerena is vying for Wilder or lineal cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia.

“I hope to be back in the ring around December or probably early in the new year, so there’s plenty of time to talk to Wilder, Opetaia, or anyone else for a massive fight,” Lerena told World Boxing News.

David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2 and @UnitedBoxingPod. He is the co-host of the United Boxing Podcast. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.