WBC heavyweight king Deontay Wilder is no stranger to controversy caused by his trash-talk, his sometimes gangster talk. Not too long ago, whilst a guest on a radio show, the unbeaten power-puncher raised plenty of eyebrows by stating how he “wants a body on his record.” Wilder said, in apparent seriousness, how he hoped to actually kill an opponent one day.
Now, this week, Wilder has overstepped the mark again. Speaking with Fight Hype, Wilder spoke about the possibility of him fighting Dominic Breazeale – Breazeale being a fighter he has had past issues with. Back in February of last year, after he defended his belt against Gerald Washington, Wilder got into it with Breazeale in the hotel lobby (Breazeale having fought on the Wilder-Washington card) and things turned physical. Breazeale says he was sucker-punched by Wilder and his team, this while he was with his wife and family.
But if there was bad blood between Wilder and Breazeale before, it’s incredibly nasty now. The crass statement Wilder made when speaking with Fight Hype has understandably angered Breazeale enormously.
“And if it do happen, aw, man, I’ma make sure he bring his son up on the stage to look the man in the eye that’s gonna cripple his daddy,” Wilder said of a possible fight with Breazeale and his gross prediction of what will happen.
If this were a British fighter, chances are big he would be in trouble and facing, at the least, a fine. But Wilder is likely to get away with saying what he has said. At times, Wilder can be funny, charming even. But this was just sick, and a man of the WBC heavyweight champion’s standing should know better. Not surprisingly, Breazeale has shot back, coming out with some tasteless comments of his own:
“Lord I ask for your forgiveness. What I’m about to say should have never came out of my mouth,’ Breazeale said on social media. “Wilder, you ain’t s**t. For one man to talk about another man’s son and to talk about crippling a man in the ring, you ain’t nothing man. You got the heavyweight championship, that’s about it. Outside of that, two wives, three girlfriends, three kids you know about, a disabled child, kids on the side. Your life is all f****d up. You want to come at me with some b******t? Be a man, step up, get the paperwork done, send the contract over. You and I, we can square this off in the ring. And you’ll lose the only thing you’ve ever had good in your life. Send it over. My revenge is coming.”
Wilder may or may not face Breazeale next, but this fight now carries with it a genuine grudge element – and this one has not been created or manufactured merely to sell tickets. Wilder could instead end up facing Tyson Fury next, and even Fury (himself no stranger to controversy) was moved to condemn Wilder’s words.
Fury wrote on social media how it is bad form to involve children in any trash-talk and that he himself prays for “everyone I fight to get home safely.”
Let’s wait and see if Wilder apologises to Breazeale and whether or not he grants the once-beaten contender a shot at his title. One thing is clear, Breazeale would train like never before in an effort to try and make Wilder pay for his bad words.
