‘I’m going to burst the hype around Joshua’
Deontay Wilder plans to show that British fans have been brainwashed, he tells Gareth A Davies
Deontay Wilder might speak at a million words a minute, but he does not waste them on idle threats. The World Boxing Council heavyweight champion once challenged a man who had insulted his daughter, Naieya, who has spina bifida, to spar with him at his gym. The results were not pretty.
Now the American has a different target. Without overlooking his opponent in New York tomorrow night – Luis Ortiz, the 38-year-old Cuban – Wilder’s sights are firmly set on “bursting the hype bubble” of heavyweight rival Anthony Joshua. A combination of the profane and the profound, whose subjects of conversation shift as quickly as his feet in the ring, Wilder used an exclusive interview with The Daily Telegraph to deride Joshua’s class, suggesting British fans had “been brainwashed by Eddie Hearn that Joshua is the heavyweight Messiah”, and that the returning Tyson Fury would be a tougher fight for him.
Wilder, who is making the seventh defence of his crown in Brooklyn, believes that boxing fans deserve to know within 12 months “who the true, undisputed heavyweight champion of the world really is”. In Wilder’s eyes, it must be him, and with 38 knockouts from 39 contests, his boasts stand up to scrutiny.
“I have been trying to fight Joshua for two years, and Tyson Fury for five years,” says Wilder. “Is Joshua vulnerable to my style? Of course he is. I have a strange style you can’t prepare for. I’m a scary person. People criticise my
‘I’d rather be the part than look the part. I’ll knock Joshua out’
style, say ‘he fights wild’, but look what happened to those who fought me.”
Wilder insists Joshua spends too much time “looking the part”, obsessing with his pursuit of the body beautiful in an effort to obfuscate the weaknesses in which Wilder sees as a robotic style.
“I’d rather be the part than look the part. I’m lean, mean – I don’t have the typical heavyweight physique. But I play the part. I’ve seen so many guys look the part, but when it comes to the time, they can’t perform. And if Joshua comes through Joseph Parker [they meet in a unification fight on March 31 in Cardiff ], I’m gonna knock him out.
“He won’t be able to live with my speed, my movement. In fact, Fury is a more awkward opponent. He might be a big personality like me, but he will not be able to match my speed and athleticism. The truth is, though, everyone wants to see me against Joshua first.”
By now, Wilder – who somehow
combines low-slung Alabaman drawl with machine-gun delivery – is warming to his theme.
“Eddie Hearn has British fans brainwashed that Joshua is the heavyweight Messiah. It’s hype! And I’ll burst his hype bubble. I don’t care about home advantage. In fact, I like fighting away. If I come over there and face Joshua, y’all going to leave with long faces. Doubt me? I’ll prove y’all wrong.”
Wilder’s long-term ambitions stretch to further than derailing the Joshua juggernaut. He is out to rekindle America’s love affair with the heavyweight crown, and return the country to the glory days of Ali, Frazier, Foreman and Holmes. It is why he feels it is incumbent on the five leading heavyweights – all undefeated – to bring a resolution to the meaning of an undisputed king of the sport.
“It’s time to return the heavyweight crown to America,” he says. “An American at the top of the division again would bring great interest in the sport. People are looking forward to me doing that.”
It is here the other side of Wilder – thoughtful and insightful – shines through the machismo. A college graduate, he was talented enough to have considered careers in American football and basketball, before opting to box, duly winning an Olympic bronze in Beijing. He is worldly enough to realise that there is a life outside the ring, too.
He and an opponent – Chris Arreola, a first-generation Mexican fighter – posed for a pre-fight photo-shoot holding signs with the political message “his life matters”, and Wilder speaks passionately about being “a voice” for the black community. He refuses to be pigeonholed as a sportsman.
“Nobody tells me what to say, because they know better than to do that,” he says. “I will continue to say what I feel, especially with my own kind, because they look up to me, for hope. Heavyweight champion is a powerful position. I am a leader of men, I have people in my inbox all the time telling me how much I inspire them. I’m fighting for all these guys. Black people are coming together more and more: a lot of us have been asleep, but we are waking up.”