Deontay Wilder Finally Ready to Show He's the Real Deal
Good news, America: Undefeated heavyweight boxer Deontay Wilder is, at long last, ready to show he's the real deal.
"I want my respect," said Wilder. "I am going to knock him [WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne] out. I will be crowned [champion]."
The 29-year-old Wilder is a knockout machine. Since winning the bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and turning professional the very same year, he has separated all 32 of his opponents from their senses within just four rounds.
Wilder will face Stiverne at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on Saturday, January 17. The bout will air live on Showtime Championship Boxing.
On paper, it's the biggest test of Wilder's career. Stiverne, age 36, is a proven titleholder. He has solid boxing skills and carries significant power in both hands.
He doesn't just know how to punch hard. He knows how to land hard punches.
The Haitian-born heavyweight is coming off consecutive wins over former title challenger Chris Arreola, the latter of which came via Round 6 knockout and netted him the WBC title belt.
But if you believe Wilder, who lives and trains in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, feels the heavy burden of America's heavyweight hopes on his shoulders—that now-so-longed-for dream of seeing another Mike Tyson or Evander Holyfield come along to undo the Eastern European stranglehold on boxing's money division—think again.
"It's no weight at all," he said. "I think I've been born to do this. I'm a leader. Now my moment has arrived."
Wilder likened his currently plotted course to the one he set during his amateur days. Back then, Wilder's long shot at Olympic glory, mostly due to the former football player never having set foot in a boxing ring until he was 20 years old, skyrocketed into America's lone podium appearance in the sport it once dominated.
"Back in 2008, I had to carry America on my back by myself, and I did that by bringing the bronze back," he said. "Now, here I am again, ready to bring a world title back—alone again and I'm ready for it. I'm like the Lone Ranger!"
Wilder remains the last American man to capture an Olympic medal in boxing, which is no small feat. Now, the 6'7" power-puncher hopes to become the first American to capture a piece of the heavyweight championship since Shannon Briggs held the WBO title back in 2006.
"I'm ready to go," he said. "It's all excitement. I'm not nervous. I don't feel any pressure. I'm super-ready and just tired of waiting. I'm excited!"
The boxing public simultaneously lauds and frets over Wilder. While some consider him the best chance America has of recapturing long-lost heavyweight glory, critics argue he remains largely untested after six years as a professional and 32 fights.
"One thing about me is that I like to prove people wrong," Wilder said. "Each and every time, out of all my fights, somebody always had something to say, whether it was good or bad. The ones that talk bad? I've proved them wrong every fight."
Back in 2011, Wilder's manager, Jay Deas, told me in an interview for The Boxing Tribune that Wilder was being moved slowly up the ranks by design.
He said Wilder's amateur career was so short and his total time inside a boxing ring in any capacity whatsoever was so brief that the late starter would progress at a slower-than-typical pace as a professional to help him become the best heavyweight he can be.
"Deontay continues to work very hard to reach his goal of becoming heavyweight champion of the world," Deas said in 2011.
Three years later, Wilder believes the work is nearly complete—that he's ready for Stiverne, a talented and accomplished titleholder, who Deas and company wouldn't have dreamed of pitting him against back then.
"I know the truth. I know my ability. I know all that I can do. I'm just so excited," Wilder said.
While OddsShark indicates Wilder is the betting favorite in the bout, he seemed intent on focusing on those in the boxing world who believe the battle-tested Stiverne will be too much for him to handle.
Bleacher Report's Briggs Seekins, for instance, predicts Stiverne will knock out Wilder out in five or six rounds.
"Everybody says this fight is a test for me, so I got another test," Wilder said. "But if you're saying he's a test now, that he's the real deal…I want you to stick by that. I want the naysayers to stick by what they say. Don't change it up. Man up to what you say and keep it. And when I do the unexpected, and when I knock him out when you least expect me to, I don't want to hear them change from 'He was a test' and 'He was good' to 'Oh, he was just a bum.' That's all they do."
Wilder expressed frustration over what has happened to him in recent bouts. He said before he entered the ring against the name fighters on his resume, such as Malik Scott and Sergei Liakhovich, he was told he was in for the biggest test of his career.
But after knocking those guys out—both in Round 1—Wilder said his critics changed their opinion of the opponents rather than giving Wilder credit for his good work.
Regardless of whatever happened in the past—whether Wilder's viewpoint is valid or his critics were right to question his opposition's underwhelming performances—a win over Stiverne would go a long way toward making even his most ardent doubters start to believe he might just be the man to dethrone lineal heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko.
In fact, Wilder said fans should expect a potential heavyweight unification bout between the two to happen sooner rather than later, should Wilder indeed become WBC heavyweight champion on Saturday.
Klitschko, the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, Ring Magazine, WBA (World Boxing Association), IBF (International Boxing Federation), IBO (International Boxing Organization) and WBO (World Boxing Organization) heavyweight champion, is scheduled to defend his titles on April 25 in Brooklyn, New York, according to ESPN.com's Dan Rafael.
His likeliest opponent is undefeated American contender Bryant Jennings, though negotiations were still taking place this week, according to BoxingScene.com's Jake Donovan.
"If he fights Jennings, I want to defend my title against Tyson Fury, maybe even in the UK," Wilder said. "And then at the end of the year, I'd like to have a unification fight with Klitschko. But if he doesn't fight Jennings, I wouldn't mind having a unification fight right after this fight. But I think that fight is going to happen with Jennings."
It's hard not to like Wilder, both as a fighter and an interview subject. As gifted as he is in the power department, he might be even more gifted with the ability to talk himself up.
And he seems so savvy as to how the fight game works—that boxing isn't about fights as much as it's about the promotion of the fight.
Yes, fighters have promoters for a reason, but the best fighters do everything they can to promote themselves. Wilder does exactly that. He's great at it.
He knows how the business works. He knows fans want a heavyweight who will seek and destroy the very best opponents. And he knows the true road to heavyweight championship glory might start with Stiverne, but it ultimately leads to Klitschko.
Yes, Wilder is a rarity in boxing. He's a man who both genuinely knows and enjoys his vocation—every single bit of it.
"Whether you're talking good or bad about me, it's all good publicity for me," he said. "It's keeping my name relevant and I'm enjoying it!"
I could almost hear him smiling through the phone at me.
But none of it—the good-natured bragging he does on himself or the big plans he has for the rest of 2015—matters if he doesn't defeat Stiverne on Saturday night. Plenty of fighters can talk the talk. The best of them can also walk the walk.
Wilder believes he's the type who can do both. And all of America holds its breath in anticipation of finding out whether that's true.
Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained firsthand.
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