Deontay Wilder (40-0-1, 39 KO) is set to defend his WBC heavyweight title on Saturday against mandatory challenger Dominic Breazeale (20-1, 8 KO), live on Showtime from Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.
Wilder spoke with media on Thursday, and talked about the fight and the 2017 incident between the two in Alabama.
On whatever he was talking about, you’ll get the point
“I’m the king, I’m the one to beat. I’m the name to have on your record. Money comes with this sport, but at the end of the day, money is not everything. Money is just materialistic, this stuff that I have, the things that I have, it’s only materialistic. Anything could happen, it could get burned, it can get thrown away, it can get misplaced. But your legacy, when you die you wanna be remembered by something that you did, not what you wore or what you had, something that you did.
“I bring something to these people, I bring value to them. I am the baddest man in this division, I am the strongest, I hit the hardest, I am the longest-reigning heavyweight champion. I’m Deontay Wilder, and that means a lot. That’s why I fought Luis Ortiz, because people call him the bogeyman. High-risk, low-reward, that’s what I did.
“When Joshua had the belt, I tried five times. So many offers lowballing me, and I knew the magnitude of the fight because I wanted it on my legacy. I understand him, that’s a real champion, that’s a real guy that wants to become a real champion and fulfill his legacy.”
On taking his “killer instinct” to another level
“Oh my God, when he came and did what he did in my city [in 2017], Dominic Breazeale don’t know how close his life came, man. You don’t come to peoples cities and threaten their family and threaten to kill them without repercussions. I had to hold people off of him, they had people who had weapons on them that wanted to take him out. You know the world we live in today, it don’t take much for somebody to just go crazy. We all got a little crazy, I got a little crazy in me.
“But I had to keep my composure because I had to think about my family, I had to think about the repercussions that come behind my actions. I had to think about being who I am. We all don’t wanna be role models. We’re human. I’m human. I don’t feel I’m no better than nobody in this room. You guys put me on the high pedestal, I don’t put myself on the high pedestal.”
On how this fight is different
“Because of the lies that he brought. He’s a clout chaser. He wanted people to feel sorry for him and have sympathy for him. In this country, you want people to be behind you? Add ‘women and children’ in there to get people on your side. But that was a total lie. He don’t even know where his children was. ... This man came and sucker-punched my brother — he couldn’t even face my brother face-up, he had to hide behind and sucker-punch my brother.
“And you know what the real reason why he’s so mad and came and tried to sue? Because my brother broke loose with his team surrounding my brother, my brother broke loose — one man, one individual, a 6’3” guy, only 195, to a 6’7”, 250 guy and dropped him in front of everybody. He’s a sucker! He sucker-punched my brother and I can’t wait to get my hands on him, because now he’s messing with the real gorilla, the real king of the division.”
On I dunno, catching a body or whatever
“That’s the least I could do, pay for the funeral.”