Wilder wants ‘Baddest man on the planet’ title
new york — Deontay Wilder was in the Super Bowl media center in Houston a few days before the game when a somewhat familiar face walked by.
Wilder and his girlfriend recognised Andrew Zimmern, who stars in the Bizarre Foods show on the Travel Channel. More telling, perhaps, was that Zimmern recognised him.
“I’m a big fan, champ,” Zimmern said before engaging Wilder in a friendly chat and posing for pictures with the heavyweight champion.
A small thing, maybe. But to a fighter with a goal of making the heavyweight division must-see once again it was a promising sign of progress.
It’s no secret the state of the heavyweight division has been abysmal. Hijacked by the Klitschko brothers and in dire need of some punch and personality, it has become a forgotten part of a beleaguered
even to me as a champion, it’s confusing. Who has what belt? it’s confusing to average fan Deontay Wilder
sport. Wilder believes he can change all that.
“We need to see who’s the No. 1 guy, who’s the baddest man on the planet,” Wilder said. “That’s the title I want, the baddest man on the planet.”
That title, of course, used to be held by Mike Tyson, who truly was the baddest man on the planet at one time. But that was more than two decades ago, and in the interim years you’d be hard pressed to find a heavyweight — champion or not — that most boxing fans could identify much less relate to.
“One man having all the belts is going to play a major factor,” Wilder said. “Even to me as a champion, it’s confusing. Who has what belt? And if it’s confusing to me I know it’s confusing to the average fan.”
Wilder won’t do much to advance his claim to the heavyweight crown on Saturday when he defends his title against Gerald Washington, a fighter so unknown that even Wilder found it difficult to say much about him. That the fight will take place in Wilder’s home state of Alabama, far from boxing’s biggest lights, doesn’t help the cause much.
That’s not entirely Wilder’s fault, though the 6-foot-7 slugger has been criticised some for taking the slow road to the top since winning a bronze medal in the 2008 Olympics. Study a list of his opponents, and it’s clear that his 37-0 (with 36 knockouts) record wasn’t exactly built against the best of what has been a bad division. —