THERE’S an irony in the belief that the demise of Americaโs heavyweight scene is attributed to a preference for more lucrative sports when their latest ‘saviour’, Deontay Wilder, shunned basketball for boxing in the pursuit of money.
If, as many expect, โThe Bronze Bomberโ overcomes WBC champion Bermane Stiverne when they meet at the MGM Grand on the 17th, he will, of course, have taken a significant step towards justifying that pressure-laden label, as well as his decision to leave the basketball court for the boxing ring.
To be a true ‘saviour’, however, Wilder will be required to excite and reign as the world heavyweight champion for years โย not mere months, like the last American-born champion Shannon Briggs briefly did until June 2007 โ and to do so he will need more than just the exceptional power he possesses, not least a superior skill set than he has so far had to demonstrate.
Stiverne could yet expose Wilder as little more than the latest Seth Mitchell โย fundamentally limited and overhyped โ but as the last American fighter to succeed at the Olympics when winning a bronze medal at Beijing 2008, and in doing so after only 21 amateur fights, there remains reason to have faith in his natural talent and potential.
If not combined with the work ethic only true hunger can inspire, talent will ultimately only carry a fighter so far, so it is relevant that Wilderโs desire to earn was inspired by his daughter being diagnosed with spinal bifida โ a condition in which a problem with the development of a spine and spinal cord leaves a gap in the spine โย and not by riches for richesโ sake. Opportunities to pursue college basketball and American football were declined when Naieya Wilderโs birth, and her needs, altered a young Deontayโs ambitions and forced him to combine jobs as a chef and delivery driver.
โFootball and basketball were my true loves, my first love,โ he toldย Boxing News. โUntil I had my daughter โ at 19, I was in college โ she was born with a spinal disorder, thatโs how I got into boxing [at 21].
โAfter I had her I dropped out of college. I felt like she was my sport now, so I gotta support her. I had one guy in college, who knew what I was gonna do, but before doing it I told him I should start boxing. He said he thought it was a great idea because he remembers me fighting on the streets, when I had quick hands in the street bars.
โBut I was ignorant to the sport then, I felt like every fighter that stepped in the ring made a lot of money [Wilderโs original plan was to be a journeyman]. At that time boxing was a way to make money to support my daughter because I didnโt know anything about the disorder she had. I didnโt know how much money it was gonna take to take care of her.
โWhen I went into the gym it was like โWowโ. Iโve never seen anything like it, it was like the โHallelujahโ music [which Wilder then sings]. It sounded so nice to me when I walked into that gym: the speed bags, the heavy bags. Have you ever been at a point in time when you knew you was in the right place, at the right point in time? Thatโs how I felt. Like, โThis is it, this is my last chance to be a famous athleteโ.โ
Wilder, his manager Al Haymon and his trainer Jay Deas will no doubt hope that the right place at the right time is Las Vegas on January 17, in the same way the Sin City once was for Mike Tyson, Larry Holmes, Muhammad Ali and other heavyweight greats in the era the Americans reigned unrivalled, and unlike it was when Wilder was charged with โdomestic abuse by strangulationโ following an incident with a female in May 2013.
โEverything that was against me was dropped,โ said 6ft 7ins Wilder, 29. โAnd nothing was filed on my behalf. Itโs a thing: I despise a thief, and I felt like at that point in time I was being took advantage of with a thief and some things happen that probably could have been in a different manner but it wasnโt near as bad as what the media put it out to be. Both parties have moved on, and we good.
โOf course I regret that I had to go through that at that time. One particular fight that I wanted that didnโt happen because of that situation is the [Dereck] Chisora-me fight. I always think about that fight.โ
The female concerned was among a group Wilder knew from Alabama. Growing up in a state with a deeply racist past left an impression on the Olympian.ย โFor me, racism is everywhere,โ Wilder explains. โThe only thing about the [USโs] south and racism is that in the south people are more open to being who they are. If you go up north thereโs racism up there but people are more hidden, theyโre more closed, they try to hide their racist beliefs.
โIn the south, theyโre more open to it. Iโd rather have somebody thatโs open about it than have someone thatโs racist behind closed doors, than when theyโre outside when theyโre among you, to fake it, to put that mask on.
โBut Alabamaโs a great place. Of course you have your parts where people may be racist here and there, but when it comes down to a tragic moment or time, maybe say a tornado, everybody comes together, everybody keeps together man, and thatโs what I love about Alabama. Itโs a nice place to raise a family, man.โ
Given Wilder repeatedly speaks of being inspired by those who doubt his talents, of his desire to โhurtโ Stiverne and that he allowed a video of him repeatedly punching โ under the guise of sparring โ โTwitter trollโ Charlie Zelenoff to be posted online (something he wouldnโt discuss through not wanting to โgive him any more attentionโ (Zelenoff had mocked Wilderโs daughterโs condition))ย there is little reason to suspect he is simply being diplomatic.
An unmistakable, deep conviction laces the words that leave his mouth every bit as much as it influences his punches in the ring, so though Wilder โ in 32 professional victories, all by knockout โ has yet to go beyond four rounds, his belief about what lies in his future after defeating Stiverne can’t be dismissed in the same way as so much of the empty rhetoric indulged in by so many of boxingโs figures.
โIโm gonna prove a lot of people wrong,โ said Wilder, who revealed he regularly takes advice from the retired Lennox Lewis.
โI definitely wanna change this temple of heavyweight boxing back to how it once was.
โThis is a new era for boxing. I donโt wanna emulate what those guys โ [Muhammad] Ali, [Mike] Tyson used to do โย I can only be me, I donโt wanna try to do what they did. We live โback in the dayโ too much. This is now, this is a new era in boxing. We always dwelling on โback in the dayโ. โBack in the dayโ is long gone and is never coming back.
โI had it planned out that I wanted to beat Stiverne, fight my mandatory โย Bryant Jennings โ then I wanted to maybe fight [Tyson] Fury, or do a voluntary, then fight Fury, then fight [Wladimir] Klitschko. He still gotta keep winning as well but in my perfect world thatโs how I want it to go.
โBut if I get to beat Jennings, Klitschko could want a challenge for the belt and if Klitschko come along want a challenge, we gonna go for Klitschko. Thatโs how itโs gonna be.โ
Praising Wilderโs power and speed, Klitschko has already discussed a potential fight with the American โ suggesting he is another who believes Wilder beats Stiverne โ and one in which an enticing clash of philosophies would heavily feature; the seasoned graduate, the patient and disciplined 12-round fighter with a proven record of dismissing heavyweight pretenders, against the raw college dropout; the fierce, as-yet-unproven enigma.
โIโm not tryna prove to the world I can take a punch, thatโs nothing,โ said Wilder, who denied rumours that he knocked out David Haye while the two sparred in 2013. โFor me to have a scrambled brain and a slurring in my talk, Iโm not interested in that, Iโm a let people keep thinking and guessing, ‘Do I have a chin? Can I take a punch?’ Keep thinking. Because anybody who gonna hit me, they gonna earn it.
โI definitely believe I can beat him [Klitschko]. Thereโs no fighter in the world that I feel I canโt beat. Thatโs just the confidence I have.
โTwelve rounds is nothing. I wish we could go back to fifteen, that is a challenge. Twenty rounds, now youโre talking about something. Twelve rounds is like an appetiser to a five-course meal.
โWhen you think youโre ready to fight me, what can you go off on, what can you study?
โSo much about me throws people off. And thatโs what gets to a fighter: youโre studying the wrong things about me. Iโm a something special. Thereโs no outworking me, thereโs no outmuscling me, thereโs no outmentalling me.
โWhether I make myself sound good or not, thereโs gonna be a point in time when Iโm a have to prove that. If I donโt live up to what Iโm saying, Iโm just speaking bullshit, right? When I prove myself, then people gonna be like โHey, he was telling us a long time agoโ. So I donโt want it to be a surprise for people.
โPeople say โHe gotta fight someone that hit backโ. Well what the hell do they think they been trying to do? Iโm not gonna just let people hit me.
โWhen someone earns that, to hit me, then theyโll see.
โโMan, this guyโs no jokeโ.โ
DON’T MISS THIS WEEK’S BOXING NEWSย FOR THE FULL BREAKDOWN OF THE BERMANE STIVERNE-DEONTAY WILDER CLASH.