By Mike Smith: WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder is basking in the glory of having stopped Dominic Breazeale in the first round in his last fight on May 18, regretting none of his comments about wanting a body, and he’s now looking ahead for bigger matches against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. Wilder (41-0-1, 40 KOs) says he doesn’t expect either of those mega-fights with Fury and Joshua to take place in 2019. Those matches will need to take place in 2020 or later depending on how the negotiations go.
Wilder surprised boxing fans in stopping Breazeale (21-2, 18 KOs) in the first round after laying him out on the canvas with a right hand to the head in their fight on Fox Sports at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Breazeale came close to beating the count, but the referee Harvey Dock stopped the fight. Breazeale complained later that he thought he’d gotten up in time before the referee had counted 10. Breazeale should thank his lucky stars that the referee did stop the fight. If the contest wasn’t halted at that point, Wilder would have gotten a free shot against the completely out of it Breazeale, and he might have been seriously hurt depending on what kind of form Wilder used on his right hand to drop him again.
Should Wilder have apologized to Breazeale for his comments?
The World Boxing Council said they were going to investigate Wilder for his remarks about wanting a body to add to his record. The question is, should Wilder have apologized to Breazeale after the fight for his comment? Wilder doesn’t sound like he’s about to take back anything he’s said.
“I don’t regret NOTHING I said; my actions speak louder than my words,” Wilder said on PBC on Fox. “It’s boxing. It’s a fight. If the people can’t handle boxing, I think you should find another sport. You all know who you’re talking to. Come on, baby. I don’t say things that I don’t mean. I’m very serious about what I say, I’m very serious about what I do. I’m passionate about what I say, and I’m passionate about what I do, or I wouldn’t be the realest champ in the business. Me and Dominic Breazeale had something on the outside of the ring. He threatened my family. When you threaten my family, things come behind that, consequences of your actions. I threatened him, as well. I protected my family like I’ve always known to do. No one’s going to come to my backyard, my city, my state and threaten me after I put you on a card. It won’t happen. I don’t regret nothing I said, my actions spoke louder than my words. It’s boxing. It’s a fight. If the people can’t handle boxing, I think you should find another sport. I’m the most exciting heavyweight in the business and you get what you want, you get knockouts, great knockouts, and I’m going to speak my piece, and that’s the end of that. Thank you,” Wilder said.
Wilder doesn’t seem to care about some boxing fans being upset about his comments. He said what he said, and he’s not taking it back from the looks of it. The fan will need to accept that as Wilder’s stance. He’s 33-years-old, and this is what he feels. From what Wilder says, Breazeale got him worked up with some of the comments he made. Wilder says Breazeale “threatened” his family. The way that Wilder fights, he’s going to win over boxing fans no matter what he says. The fans are focusing more on his exciting knockout victories more so than on what he says.
The problem with Wilder talking about killing opponents is if he continues to do it with all the future fighters that he faces, it’s going to make him sound silly. If this something that Wilder says get boxing fans excited about his fights, it’s going to work against him, because the fans will grow tired of his over the top comments about wanting a body, and they ignore him. It worked for Wilder this time, as a lot of media wrote on it. The more Wilder talks like the more likely he get less articles written about his comments.
“When I say things, people get butt-hurt about it. There’s so many sensitive, peoples in the world,” said Wilder. “One thing I can’t stand is a sensitive, type of person. Words hurt, of course it does, but I don’t care who thinks anything about it. I don’t care about what no one thinks, nor what they say or how I feel. Everybody turned in just to see me do what I was said I was going to do. You’ll criticize a man, but you tune in. ‘I just want to see if he’s going to do it.’ Man, get out of here, especially in the times we’re living in. I do me, you guys do you and enjoy the show,” Wilder said.
It worked for Wilder to talk a lot of trash to get boxing fans interested in his fight with Breazeale. If Wilder had stayed quiet, fewer fans would have tuned in to watch his fight with the 33-year-old Breazeale.
Fury still likely the easier fight to be made for Wilder than Joshua
Despite all the talk from Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn about how he badly wants to make the fight between Wilder and Anthony Joshua in 2019, the fight that has a better chance of happening is a rematch between Deontay and Fury. Joshua will likely continue to want the bigger revenue split that Wilder, and that’ll keep their fight from being made this year. A rematch between Wilder and won’t be easy to put together now that Fury is signed with Top Rank. If they play hardball with Wilder in the negotiations, they won’t get the fight, and then they’ll have to go look for another Tom Schwarz level opponent to put in with Tyson.
“I don’t see none of them happening this year,” Wilder said about fights with Fury and Joshua. “2020’s gonna be a full year and it’s going to be an exciting year, not only for us as fighters but for boxing fans around the world. I think with big fights like that, it’s going to take more than just the few months we have left in this year. It’s a mess. As you guys understand and know how it is with negotiations, and you go in there and have your team and the other team, everyone has to come together. At this point, no one is together. But the great thing about this is all parties are talking. We’re having interesting conversations,” Wilder said.