WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder fields media questions about his upcoming rematch with Luis Ortiz as well as his thoughts on the planned February rematch with Tyson Fury...
Wilder on what he needs to do differently against Luis Ortiz in the first half of the fight:
“With Ortiz, you know, he’s a very smart fighter, you know he’s a counter puncher — he’s great at what he does. I can understand why I’m the only person in the top ten, top five really, giving him an opportunity.
“What I didn’t do in the last fight, I think I didn’t throw enough jabs at him. My feet, you know, I would say that I can place my feet in position a little bit more as well being that the movement that we have is very awkward when you have orthodox and southpaw in there...Just little minor things. I think I did very well under the conditions that I was under at that moment of time in the fight and I’m looking forward to have a great fight with him this time around as well.”
On saying he wants to retire in six years and if he’ll do it sooner if he manages to fully unify the division:
“Six years is my max, that I’m planning to finish my career...It’s a beautiful thing to be able to have a team that I started with and a team that I’m gonna finish with. It’s amazing that when we first started this thing we had plans of the beginning, how we wanted my career to unfold and how things to be structured.
“And I can’t say things went as planned, you know, that’s why I think as a human being, personally I don’t really plan things as I go. I go off of the energy of everything...because in life we know that sometimes things don’t go as planned and we know that has happened in my career. But it’s great to have a group of guys who have my best interest in heart ultimately, and wanna see me rise to the top with the same people that we was planning the beginning, the unfolding, the revealing of who I am. We’re planning the ending too and I think the ending feel a little bit sweeter than the beginning because in the beginning you have a long task ahead of you just don’t know where the roads may lead along the path...”
On his plans after boxing:
“I’m looking for the movies. My passion is acting, you know. I’ve been doing my thing thus far and I’ve been killing it on the scene and I’m very passionate about it and I’m looking to do a lot of great things in the acting field. I’m a certified scuba diver as well, I’m looking to explore more in the ocean...”
On who he wants to see win the Andy Ruiz-Anthony Joshua rematch:
“I like Andy Ruiz. I liked him in the first fight and I like him in the second fight as well. In my opinion it’s an even more bigger fight between the two, especially how he won the first time. It’s all gonna determine how he’s able to win the second time. With Joshua, you know, we tried many, many, many, many times to mae that fight come forward, to make a dream fight happen, you know, for the fans, to unify the division to have one champion, one face, one name. And as you can see that was a long process...It was a lot. This is a gladiator sport, man’s man sport, and I’m a grown man, I don’t have time for games...”
On if he thinks Fury still wants to fight him in February:
“Nah Fury don’t want it. I don’t think he ever wanted it, the rematch. A lot of people gave him sympathy off of mental illness but that’s something that nine out of ten of us have faced all the time. Many of us have thought about suicide or doing a lot of things so, you know, being that he was from another country and coming over to this country — you know, in America we always feel sorry for people, especially if they’re not of this country...
“...a lot of people gave him a moral victory and he wanna run with that. I don’t think he ever wanted to rematch because I have power, you know what I mean?”
Check out the full media scrum in the video above.