Claressa Shields isn't sure if Deontay Wilder will retire soon, but if he does she wants it to be on his own terms.
Wilder lost his most recent fight in brutal fashion as he was knocked out by Zhilei Zhang earlier this month, making it four losses in his last five fights. "The Bronze Bomber" will turn 39 years old later this year, and given the downturn in results for the former WBC heavyweight champion over the past four years the questions about him hanging up the gloves for good have only grown louder.
While Wilder hasn't publicly stated whether the Zhang fight was his last, his friend Shields stated that the decision should be Wilder's to make at an appropriate time.
"I've been asked about Wilder for a minute, and he's a close friend of mine, so I don't really like speaking about him," Shields told VegasInsider.com. "But I feel like when any fighter is ready to retire, they should retire. I hated seeing him get knocked out that way."
"But that's not the Deontay Wilder, the champion, that I know. He's not as heavy as he used to be, he's not as confident as he used to be, and he's older now."
"It's really up to him, but I just want to see him go away from the sport gracefully, on his own terms. Leave healthy, with his money, in his right mind. So when he's ready to retire, I hope he does it the right way, with the right people around him."
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