NEW YORK CITY — Deontay Wilder plops down on a plush sofa in his SoHo hotel room, overlooking a pristine view of Manhattan and the Hudson River.
The WBC heavyweight champion hoists his arms over his head and lets out a satisfying stretch of his 6-7, 213-pound frame frame. For the moment, “The Bronze Bomber” is at utmost peace.
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Aside from a stop at the New York Stock Exchange, where he’d go on to ring the closing bell, his Wednesday afternoon is as clear as the spring day in which the sun finally peaked to bake the concrete after a cold rain — more apt for winter — hit the city 24 hours earlier. His mood has lifted with the weather.
But Wilder can’t help but snicker when Dominic Breazeale’s name is brought up. Breazeale has vowed to expose his fighting style in their heavyweight bout at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Saturday night, live on Showtime (9 p.m. ET).
During his championship reign, several of Wilder’s past opponents have made similar promises. Worse is that, fight after fight, boxing experts and prognosticators alike keep saying Wilder was “exposed” for his lack of boxing skills. It was a go-to line that many used after his victory over Luis Ortiz in March 2018, where Wilder survived a rough seventh round to unleash a hellacious uppercut to win by 10th-round TKO.
“Exposed” was also used following Wilder's bout against Tyson Fury, which ended in a split-decision draw in December. Fury out-boxed Wilder, but “The Bronze Bomber” did uncork two vicious knockdowns during the fight, including a three-piece special that dropped the Brit with a thud in the 12th round (in what many felt should have been a KO if it weren’t for referee Jack Reiss’ controversial delayed count).
Despite the "exposed" chatter that continues "TILL THIS DAY," here Wilder stands at 40-0-1, with 39 KOs to his name, embarking on his ninth title defense. So, when he hears Breazeale is the latest in line talking up the same noise, all the champ could do is sneer.
“The only thing I get out of that is they need something to say,” Wilder told Sporting News. “All these guys feel like they have to have something negative to say about me because they can’t figure me out. I’m unorthodox, I’m un-textbook. So, with that being said, that’s scary.
“They feel like all I have is a right hand,” he continued. “If that’s all I got, then I’ve been doing a great job at that. This is my ninth title defense, I’m the longest-reigning champion in the game. But the thing about it is when they have a mindset of thinking that way, they're always going to get knocked out. See, that’s how I add these guys to my highlight reel."
"When they realize that they can't do what they're supposed to do in the ring, then bam baby, goodnight."
— Sporting News Fights (@sn_fights) May 15, 2019
Deontay Wilder talks about fighters who vow to expose his lack of boxing skills only to end up being knocked out. #WilderBreazeale pic.twitter.com/ZXq7xJOq3O
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Every fighter vowing to expose him for his lack of boxing fundamentals has played directly and literally into his hands — that right one, to be exact. What’s there to expose when Wilder has been an open book throughout his career? What's there to expose when Wilder has showed you who he is as a fighter bout after bout, daring someone to do something about it?
Every boxer Wilder has faced knows he is going to enter the ring brandishing the most dangerous weapon in boxing — that lethal right hand — looking for the opportune moment to load it up and let it go. Yet, none has been able to negate him enough to stop it from detonating.
Maybe it's the zany, wild angles in which he fires his shots. Maybe it's his awkward, unpredictable movements in the ring. Maybe it's that exposing holes in the best knockout artist in the game is way easier said than done. Maybe it's that Wilder knocks heavyweights out better than any heavyweight can box, period.
Wilder defeated Bermane Stiverne by unanimous decision to become the WBC champion in January 2015, marking the first time the Tuscaloosa, Ala., native’s went the distance in a fight. But Wilder turned Stiverne into a meme in their November 2017 rematch following a gruesome first-round KO in which the Haitian-Canadian got bent at the waist like he was doing his best Keanu Reeves impression in "The Matrix."
Wilder and Fury went the distance in December, but as aforementioned, many felt like the latter fighter was gifted a long count that should have registered as Wilder’s 40th KO, instead of a draw.
Around the same time Wilder spoke with Sporting News on Wednesday, Breazeale held court with a pool of reporters following his media workout at Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn, explaining how he will attempt to avoid joining the growing body count of “The Bronze Bomber.”
"I don't give Deontay much credit for his title defenses. People talk about his big right hand, but this is heavyweight boxing. I have a big right hand, too,” said Breazeale, (20-1, 18 KOs), whose only loss was a June 2016 knockout to Anthony Joshua. “I've put many individuals down on the canvas. All Wilder does is talk. We'll see who lands that right hand first on Saturday.”
Whoever does land that right hand first on Saturday, better believe it will be thrown with bad intentions. It’s well past personal between Wilder and Breazeale: It’s gushing in bad blood.
Back in February 2017, Wilder defeated Gerald Washington and Breazeale beat Izuagbe Ugonoh on the same card in Birmingham, Ala., Wilder’s home state. That’s where the story gets hairy, with each fighter equipped with his own version of the story.
According to Wilder, Breazeale made threats at the Legacy Arena to kill his brother and family, and Wilder and his brother confronted Breazeale about it back in the hotel lobby that night. Wilder says Breazeale sucker-punched his brother, Marsellos Wilder, who’s a cruiserweight, and Marsellos responded by dropping Breazeale.
Breazeale’s version of the story is that Wilder, his brother and 20 goons confronted him in the hotel lobby when he was out of pocket with his wife and kids. The insinuation that Wilder endangered Breazeale’s children infuriates the champ, a doting dad himself.
“That’s far from the truth. He’s just a clout-chaser,” Wilder said, dismissing Breazeale’s account of that night. “My brothers had their children in position, in formation, guarding those kids as if they were my own because they know how passionate I am about children. I don’t play around with children.
“This could have been settled at the arena,” he continues. “Breazeale fled to the hotel because he felt like it was safe there. He shouldn’t have made the comments that he made about threatening to kill my brother and killing my family if his family wasn’t there.
“You don’t come to another man’s city and say that because you don’t know how many people around that love me and who’s there for me. Breazeale could have lost his life that night.”
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That said, Wilder has repeatedly expressed his desire to make a crime scene out of Breazeale on Saturday night, body bag, toe tag and all, saying “if he dies, he dies” during his own media workout earlier in the week.
The two will meet face to face following Thursday's final news conference at Barclays and again after the weigh-in Friday on Long Island University’s Downtown Brooklyn campus. The next time they'll meet will be before the bell rings Saturday night, when each 33-year-old fighter will have revenge on his mind.
“I needed this push,” Wilder said of the back-and-forth turmoil stemming from that February 2017 incident. “It allowed me to advance myself more than I’ve ever done before for I want to do what I said I’m going to do to him — I’m going to destroy him. This is payback. This is revenge.”
And we'll see if Breazeale's vowed "exposing" leads to Wilder being the winner and still-undefeated WBC heavyweight champion of the world.
