THE NEWS that former WBC heavyweight champ Deontay Wilder will be returning to the ring opens up the tantalising prospect of the Alabaman appearing in a boxing ring somewhere in Britain soon.

It also allows us to ponder the question of why heavyweight boxing in the US has declined to the extent that none of the belts currently reside there, with Wilder the last American to own one before losing it to Tyson Fury in February 2020?

Apart from Wilder, the only other American heavyweight to make the current top 10 Ring Magazine rankings is Andy Ruiz Jr.

This is a staggering statistic when you consider that heavyweight boxing has traditionally not only been synonymous with the United States, it’s been woven tight into the country’s sporting culture.

Rocky Marciano, Gene Tunney, Sonny Liston, Ali, Floyd Patterson, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Larry Holmes, Mike Tyson… the list is near endless of not only boxing legends but cultural icons who’ve reached the apex of the heavyweight division across the other side of the Atlantic.

Today the division is truly multinational, with Britain currently boasting three of the Ring Magazine’s current top 10 heavyweights in the persons of Anthony Joshua (AJ), Dillian Whyte and Joe Joyce.

Tyson Fury could also be added to this list, given that his announcement of retirement straight after knocking out fellow Brit Whyte at Wembley on April 23 appears set to give way to the announcement of a ring return to face the winner of AJ’s rematch against Oleksandr Usyk.

Originally pencilled in for an April date, this fight was pushed back due to Usyk serving with the Ukrainian armed forces at the start of his country’s conflict with Russia.

At the time of writing, the contracts have still to be signed, but according to promoter Eddie Hearn the fight is definitely on and will likely take place sometime in late summer, most probably in Riyadh.

AJ, by the way, has just announced that he will be trained by respected American trainer Robert Garcia in England for the Usyk rematch, though with the benefit of hindsight perhaps this comes into the category of closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.

In talking up his own return to the ring, Deontay Wilder declared that the lack of US fighters challenging for heavyweight titles has robbed the division of its excitement and glamour.

While close to 100,000 fans at a sold-out Wembley Stadium for Fury v Whyte refutes this claim, there is no doubting that the division could do with the kind of swagger Wilder brings.

Having taken a long layoff after losing to Fury in the third and last clash of their trilogy in October last year, Wilder recently unveiled a statue of himself in his home town of Tuscaloosa in Alabama, where he remains based to this day.

It marks a wonderful tribute to a fighter who only began fighting as a professional at 19 to help support his first child, daughter Naleya, after she was diagnosed with spina bifida before she was born.

Prior to that, he supported himself and his family by working three jobs and — literally in his case — fighting for every dime.

Though such a back story might on a certain level seem romantic and Rockyesque, the fact that life in the land of the free is so hard and precarious for those unlucky to find themselves born into poverty could be one reason why the US heavyweight landscape looks more like a desert right now. Adversity up to a certain point moulds strength and resilience. Beyond a certain point, it breaks it.

Wilder has only ever lost to Fury in a boxing ring, so it will be interesting to see what route he takes on this next chapter of his career.

Personally, I would relish him facing AJ or Whyte along the way, though if AJ were to lose his rematch with Usyk, it is highly likely it would destroy what self-belief the former Olympian has left and prompt him to retire rather than try and go on.

Returning to Fury, if he makes the return to action that most pundits and others around the sport believe he will, it certainly won’t be for the money.

He has made a mountain of the stuff these past few years, and his motivation for going on could only be to further enhance an already extraordinary legacy and to enjoy more huge nights like the one he just experienced at Wembley.

Relatable to the common man and woman to an extent no other elite fighter is today — even when filmed drunk and staggering in the street in the south of France, as he was while on holiday recently — Fury retains an air of vulnerability that makes him such a likeable and enigmatic icon.

Without him and Wilder, heavyweight boxing loses its shine, with no crossover stars to keep it anything like as interesting as it has been with them in it because, though perhaps difficult for some to accept, today’s heavyweight division is historically weak when compared to previous eras.

Would a prime Lennox Lewis beat Fury? The jury is out on that one for me. How about a prime Evander Holyfield v Usyk, two former cruiserweights who moved up into this land of giants?

A prime Tyson against Wilder? Or how about the Larry Holmes who fought and stopped Gerry Cooney in 1982 against the version of Andy Ruiz Jr who defeated AJ?

Then further down the line, Earnie Shavers v Joyce? Two huge units with concussive power in both hands. Or how about Tommy Morrison against Dereck Chisora? With that stunning left hook and all round skill set he possessed in his pomp, Morrison for me beats Chisora and Whyte on the same night.

I could go on, but you get the idea.