Deontay Wilder talks about being the ‘captain’ of Matchroom Boxing as he approaches his June 1 fight with Zhilei Zhang. In particular, Wilder claims to feel better working with a group of people who encourage him to commit murders in the ring, rather than trying to force him to limit his rhetoric for broader public consumption. Check out what Wilder had to say below.
Wilder signed with Matchroom after a long stay at PBC
“To be apart of Matchroom and the captain, how ironic, but at the same time special and sweet. A wise ancient man once told me that if you do business even with people you don’t like, then business is business, treat it accordingly.
“Sometimes you may have to work with people you’ll never see for 1,000 years, but ultimately, being around a person for that long, understanding their way of being as they understand your actions, you know what kind of category or place, where you can place them when they are in your environment.
“So if you know how to deal with a person, you can get along with them, you are able to coexist with them.”
How he rejuvenated himself and regained that spark after losing to Joseph Parker
“The last one was a blessing in disguise. I thought I had it all figured out, and when you think you have it all figured out and you’re going through something else – you probably think things aren’t as polished as you thought until you realize when you get into a fight like hell: some more is lacking. And that’s a blessing in disguise, because after that fight on Monday morning, I hit the ground running.
“That’s why I can’t wait to show what I feel here. You know, I lost my love for boxing. I have lost that fire and drive because of many things that have happened to me in my life. And people don’t understand that as a fighter you’re much more outside the ring. We still have business issues, we still have personal issues, and then we have to deal with life itself. It’s fate. Then come and try to be the best you can be in your career. We have to deal with this, we are not robots.
“The main thing that excites me is that I’m working with people who want to see this monster, who want to see this killer, who won’t judge me for saying I want to kill man and I put them on my record, just as the world did for various reasons.
On how he views his fight against Zhilei Zhang
“I have the utmost respect for him. He’s a fighter and I think he’s a damn good fighter too, so I’ll definitely have to put him on my A-game. He understands what he’s up against and what I bring, and I understand what I struggle with and what I often present. Two bangers, that’s a good fight. It’s a really amazing fight, I can’t wait for it.
“I didn’t do what I wanted in the last fight, so I owe something to the Saudi fans. I owe them some emotion. I owe them a knockout. I owe them a great victory. I can’t wait for June 1 to knock out Matchroom.”