Deontay Wilder wanted to be making a splash this weekend, when he planned to head into the ring and confront Anthony Joshua in Cardiff, Wales, after AJ took the WBO belt from Joseph Parker, if all things went to plan.
Well, they didn’t go to plan, not from the Wilder standpoint, as he was told a bit before his flight that he’d not be needed, or maybe wanted, in Wales.
But, the Alabama boxer has succeeded in making a splash, alright. His Friday AM appearance on Charlamagne Tha God’s radio show, “The Breakfast Show,” has made ripples across the waters of social media.
That’s because Wilder, who holds a 40-0 record, with 39 KOs, was presented as the Baddest Man On Tha Planet by certified fight fan Charlamagne, and he tried to live up to the designation. “The world’s most dangerous heavyweight,” Char called Wilder.
The host was in BK to see Wilder walk through fire and come out the other side and cook up Luis Ortiz, finish off the Cuban after being in pretty deep trouble. He’s seen the power pak owned by the long and lean heavyweight up close. He heard more about what it feels like to own such an arsenal, and how he views the awesome authority.
They chit chatted, and Wilder touched on items such as: Yes, he did think maybe Ortiz would be coming in to their fight dirty, but he wanted to fight him regardless, to prove that no one, in no condition, can top him. Also, that Eddie Hearn had looked to try and sign Wilder to Matchroom. Wilder said that Hearn is big in the UK, but crossing over to the US market is no easy lift. “I think he wants me as a safe haven because he knows I will beat Joshua.” Wilder mentioned that Dillian Whyte could be his next, and that’s what Hearn seems to want, but he wants AJ next. He conceded that Hearn and AJ holds an extra card, or so, and that’s why Hearn is proceeding as he is.
“He would definitely be the A side,” Wilder continued, sensibly, when asked by CTG (
listen to Charlamagne on TALKBOX) if he or AJ would be the A side when the super fight gets made.
And the session continued, quite a lengthy hit. “My power is so crazy, I don’t even know the length of it,” Wilder said, more than 40 minutes in. “I’m so dangerous. Like, I can only imagine me getting into a fight in the streets. It’d be crazy!” His power was in evidence, he said when he fought Artur Szpilka in Brooklyn, and “he was dead three to five seconds.”
The hands are like lethal weapons, just like owning a pistol, he continued. And he’s within his rights to wallop Joe Blow if JB came upon him in a street scenario, Wilder said.
Then, the splash of cold water..
He was asked about having sympathy for a foe. Nah, Wilder said, no dice. “Like, I don’t wanna kill somebody for a few seconds,” Angela Yee,a co-host, offered. And Wilder whirled to her and said, “Nah, I want a body on my record. I want one. I want one. I really do.”
CTG cracked up, and said, “Noooo….You wanna be Ivan Drago?”
“That’s the Bronze Bomber, he want one. I always tell people when I’m in the ring, like I am the Bronze Bomber, and with him, it’s like soooo crazy.”
Basically, when he’s in that mode, “I don’t really care.”
There’s no feeling for the man across from him, he asserted.
He takes off that mask and then you should know, he’s coming to knock you out, and go home. Then, after the deed is done, he can snap back into a being a decent dude.
“Somebody gonna go,” he said, noting that he thought it would be Szpilka. “I want that on my record,” he reiterated.
“If I do take a life in the ring, Deontay will feel bad,” he said, but they all sign up for this, so, only to a point.
The host and Wilder chuckled to close the hit that maybe AJ would be the first fatality at the hands of Wilder.
More material, less provocative than the previous bit. Wilder said that he was buzzed by Ortiz, but he wasn’t in deep waters in danger of drowning. An Ortiz right had him in a groggier zone, with a right hand really touching him in round seven. But he’d been picturing this eventuality, meditating on different scenarios, and that enabled him to escape the rough patch.
Wilder told CTG that Parker is looking very confident, and he didn’t really want to offer up a prediction. He was heavily invested in caring about Guillermo Rigondeaux, and thought Rigo could beat Vasyl Lomachenko. “Rigo got his ass beat,” he said, and deftly side-stepped calls to predict AJ v Parker.
“Parker can knock Joshua out,” he allowed, being that AJ has hit the deck before.
ALSO:
—He said that it “takes a certain caliber of person to knock a person out.” And some big guys with mega muscles look like they are bombers, but often a smaller guy with longer muscles is often able to punch harder. He said that his flexibility is an underrated asset, and that helps his defense.
—Also, that he sees things others don’t. Even his corner…They might call for something but he knows that isn’t the right route, and joked that he wonders if they are trying to get him knocked out. He might not be the best looking technically, but his awkwardness benefits him, he noted.
—Co-host Yee also weighed in regularly over the almost hour long sesh. She knows her boxing, and Wilder gave her props for being a sage. She listened as he told why he went to Cali to smack up troll Charlie Zelenoff..
.. who Wilder said had crossed a line, by yapping about Wilders’ daughter, threatening to tape up her mouth, and also using the N word. He declared that he’s laid back and chill, and isn’t keen to snap.
—Wilder told listeners he’d like to act after his fighting arc ends.
—The WBC champ said that past standouts don’t support the new guys on the block like they should. Americans too often are wanting to follow and promote a foreigner over an American. Why don’t oldsters take young uns under their wing, he said.
—He’d like to get to 51-0…but if he loses that 52nd fight, people will focus and fixate on the loss, said Wilder.
—Wilder said that he digs Mike Tyson, but Tyson did lose his step up fights. Still, Tyson was like a land-shark. And he is along the same lines, Wilder said. And then Tyson talked negatively of him, he said, and that threw him.
—If AJ doesn’t want to go next, he will go with what Al Haymon recommends, and he’ll be OK with that, he told CTG. It won’t be a Floyd v Manny time drawn out deal, though.
—“I don’t need Anthony nor do he need me,” said Wilder, and he thinks both are happy enough without that. He respects Keith Thurman for saying he’s not ready to meet Errol Spence, and he’d like AJ to do that if he feels that way. “The fight will happen, you will have one champion, one face, one name, go by the name of Deontay Wilder.”
—Wilder spends more time in Atlanta or Cali, as he doesn’t spend as much time in Birmingham. Too many haters there, he said. He hears that he tries to act like Floyd Mayweather, and doesn’t appreciate the negativity from people who haven risen up from a humbler place.
My three cents: Was Wilder wanting to cause a sensation, did he talk about committing an in ring murder, state sanctioned, with the desire that his profile would be raised that much more? Maybe so. One would think…Because I have a hard time thinking he REALLY wants to kill a guy in the ring. He seems to have a soft side, and a contemplative one. So, shall we chalk this up to misfortunate trash talking/shit stirring/self promotion?
