Exclusive interview with WBC world heavyweight champion
Wednesday 28 December 2016 18:53, UK
There remains a titanic presence who, for eight years, has carried the legacy of America's iconic heavyweight history on his considerable shoulders.
Deontay Wilder watched, and waited, with great interest as the recent divisional chaos wound down and he now represents a dangerous threat to Anthony Joshua's long-term reign.
Lurking in the shadows as he recovered from injuries sustained in his July victory over Chris Arreola, Wilder cuts a far more erudite character than his mouthy, braggadocio fighting persona may suggest. The WBC champion has been the odd-one-out of the furore that pitted Joshua against Eric Molina and now, at Wembley Stadium, Wladimir Klitschko. The one constant remains Wilder, who now finds himself as the elder statesman of the world heavyweight champions.
"With American fighters right now, they're down," the country's first world heavyweight champion in eight years exclusively told Sky Sports. "In the heavyweight division the only guy is me. We're down right now but we will get back up.
"The British scene in boxing, not just the heavyweight division, is popping. It's your time. Everybody gets their turn and, right now, you guys are hitting home runs."
It's contagious to do great. But once that one bad apple falls, everybody else will fall, and that's how it is.
Is IBF champion Joshua the focal point of the British royalty? "When one guy is doing good, it makes all the others want to achieve greatness," Wilder said. "It's contagious to do great. But once that one bad apple falls, everybody else will fall, and that's how it is."
American heavyweight boxing was stagnant after the era led by Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield faded, meaning a 22-year-old Wilder was plundered with more hope than expectation after a bronze medal at the 2008 Olympics.
Wilder's prize in Beijing was a false dawn - in Rio last summer, the United States didn't even enter any boxers in the super-heavyweight, heavyweight or light-heavyweight categories for the first time in nine Olympic Games. It was an alarming reality-check for a lineage that once spawned Cassius Clay, Joe Frazier and George Foreman.
"I wasn't disappointed, actually I've seen improvement this year," said Wilder, referring to America's one gold, one silver and one bronze in Rio. "I saw some people medal this year, and actually that's an improvement.
"They took the scoring system back to when we were dominant, when America was dominant and grabbed golds. Over the years, it will come back to America and we'll be dominant again because that's our style.
"Now it's back to how we like it. We were never fond of the point system thing. That's why I didn't want to stay, and turned pro immediately, because my heart was broken in the Olympics. You can train for four years but when you get to the big dance, your fate doesn't lie in your hands.
My heart was broken in the Olympics. You can train for four years but when you get to the big dance, your fate doesn't lie in your hands.
"I'm looking forward to the fighting with no headgear - I'm jealous, I kind of want to go back to the Olympics to experience no headgear.
"With the heavyweight division, we need more. But how do you get more?"
Indeed, how? Earlier this year, Audley Harrison, who won gold in the super-heavyweight division at the 2000 Olympic Games, told Sky Sports that talented American youths are poached by the riches of the NFL or NBA. "If you are the parents of one of those talented kids, they can't get a scholarship in boxing," Harrison said. "You can in basketball, American football, soccer and more, so what are you going to tell them? Why are you going to go through boxing when you don't earn anything?"
Wilder, who beat Harrison in Sheffield three years ago, rejects that reason for the lack of emerging heavyweights, replying: "I don't think it's suffering because of that, I think it's just hard for certain people. Boxing is a dangerous sport. We don't know, when we get in that ring, if we'll get out the same.
"You don't just walk into a gym and want to do this. Only a crazy person - and I am a crazy person - walks into a gym and says 'this is what I want to do'. Boxing is not something that a child says 'I want to do' unless he's been around it, and seen it.
"Everybody wants football or basketball but not boxing, and that's what makes this sport so special. Talent is always being discovered and guys are jumping out of nowhere. It will always grow - boxing is one of the oldest sports and will never die.
Only a crazy person - and I am a crazy person - walks into a gym and says 'this is what I want to do'.
"This ain't no team sport, you can't depend on nobody. If you get tired, it's on you. If you don't throw enough punches, it's on you. It's a sweet science, an art, a craft.
"A lot of people do not want to risk - 'I may be good at this, but is my conscious big enough to walk down that aisle with all these people screaming at me, get in that ring, and fight this guy?' Not everybody is capable of doing this."
So what will become of America's great hope Wilder, who took the WBC title in January 2015 from Bermane Stiverne - his sole opponent in 37 fights to avoid a knockout? Wilder suffered a broken hand and torn bicep in his stoppage of Arreola and will return in February against Andrzej Wawrzyk, intensifying his glare towards a fellow world heavyweight champion.
"Everyone wants to see him fight the man," Wilder said about IBF king Joshua. "And I am the man. No matter what people say, I am the man, especially in America.
"Our goal in 2017 is to unify the division so we need others that want to put their title on the line. If you're at the top, no matter who you are - especially if you're a belt-holder - we want you."
Tyson Fury confronted Wilder in New York last January but has now vacated his belts and stepped into the shadows. Wilder sympathised: "You've got to understand a person - where they came from, and where they're trying to go.
"You've got to be a certain type of character sometimes. But sometimes guys will build a certain type of character then they can't turn it off. You've got to know how to turn that switch off.
"May God be with him, and I look forward to the return of Tyson Fury because we didn't promote that fight all year for nothing, trust me. That one's got to happen, whether he's got a belt or not."
So for now, Wilder will continue to be the brooding presence on the other side of the Atlantic while the heavyweight storm continues to swirl in Britain. He is watching, and waiting…
New customer winter madness offer: save over 40% on your Sky Sports Month Pass, just £20
