Deontay Wilder is abandoning peace and resurrecting the brutality that made him boxing’s most feared knockout artist.
With chilling intent, he tells Mail Sport he is ready to break bones, add a length to his record and unleash the primal force that once sent shivers down the spine of the sport.
“Be calm in the ring, no one wants to see it because it doesn’t generate emotion,” he says. ‘But being a savage, being able to say, “I want to rip your head off your shoulders,” that creates emotion and that’s what I aim to do.
‘Even talking about it gives people chills. But no matter what he says or what he intends to do, the people who pay to see him are as guilty as I am. They come to see what I say I want to do.
‘Regardless of what you think, that savagery, that cruelty, that’s what I want to show right now. I have it in me. It’s a switch that turns on and off. It is not being created or put. It’s something that is inside me and that has extreme power.’
Deontay Wilder abandons peace and resurrects brutality in the boxing ring again
Wilder wants to rediscover the power that made him boxing’s most feared knockout artist.
Wilder (left), 38, is prepared to unleash his aggression on Zhilei Zhang (right) on Saturday.
Wilder, 38, is prepared to unleash his aggression on Zhilei Zhang on Saturday night. If the Chinese heavyweight underestimates the Bronze Bomber, he could face a relentless attack.
Despite a disappointing last outing against Joseph Parker, even a glimpse of the old Wilder should be enough to strike fear into Zhang. After all, he knocked down the likes of Bermane Stiverne three times in three minutes and landed a lethal right hand to knock out Dominic Breazeale in just one round.
“I don’t think any other wrestler has ever punched a guy and made his body do what I did. You know, at one point I punched a guy and he grabbed him in the ring. One guy got his tongue stuck out at the back of her mouth and if she wasn’t caught, she probably would have drowned.
‘I have made men’s eyes roll back as if they had had good sex. Many of the things I do are given by God. I’m a one-punch knockout artist and we’ve never seen that before. We’ve only seen hits or bunches, but we’ve never seen someone give you a hit that could end your career. I’m a race finisher.
Wilder’s hard right hand punch has caused fear in the past, and the Bronze Bomber recalled how he thought he had killed Artur Szpilka in January 2016 and caused Luis Ortiz’s soul to “leave his body” in 2019.
When asked how he handles seeing his opponents lying on the mat, Wilder said, “It depends on our relationship or how things were before the fight.”
‘If beforehand they speak recklessly, then harsh. You signed the contract just like I did. We all know the risk we take to enter there. But if he seemed like a good guy, then it’s just business.
‘You are worried about someone you know returning to their families. Most of the time when I see a guy with his body on the ground, I worry about him. I hope they get up.
Wilder (background) knocked out Finnish-Swedish boxer Robert Helenius (front) in 2022
Wilder coolly returns to his corner after his impressive knockout at the Barclays Center.
With chilling intent, he tells Mail Sport he is ready to break bones and add a body to his record.
‘So when I finish the job, I become a caring human being again. That’s when the switch goes off.’
After more than a year out of the ring, Wilder, who held the WBC belt between 2015 and 2020, returned in December 2023 to face Parker in Saudi Arabia.
But looking a shell of his former self, Parker handily negated his vaunted right hand and won by a wide margin on the judges’ scorecards.
Lacking his trademark ability to deliver a fight-changing punch at any moment, Wilder was outmatched, with many pointing out the drug he had taken in the build-up.
He preached about being “reborn” and finding peace after trying Ayahuasca, an ancient drink made from leaves with psychoactive properties.
But Wilder is putting that behind him and letting his wild side out on the 5v5 Queensberry versus Matchroom card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday.
Despite a disappointing last outing against Joseph Parker, even a glimpse of the old Wilder should be enough to strike fear into Zhang.
Parker (pictured) emerged victorious in his fight with Wilder last December in Saudi Arabia.
“I bring in the wild Deontay Wilder,” he adds. ‘It’s a beautiful and exciting thing when you accept the wildness of a person. After all, this is a gladiatorial business.
‘This is not a good business. Men and women get hurt all the time. More than 13 combatants die each year. And I want to be the wild one who talks about things on the subject of this business, so let me. I’m only here for a short period of time. Everyone has an expiration date, so enjoy me.
‘Enjoy me while I’m here, because when I’m gone, well, you know the saying: “You miss things when they’re really gone.” And people miss my wildness. People miss that wild man he used to be. They don’t want peace.
But that’s something I hate about human beings. You can’t please them, because they will want it one way, but when they get it, they will want it another way.
‘They wanted me to be peaceful when I was talking about having a body on my file, then when I became peaceful they said they wanted the savage. That’s the only thing I don’t like and I don’t understand it.
“But being around people who love my wild side and are willing to accept me as I am really comforts me.”
Bronze Bomber wants to stop being a good boy in the ring and go back to being “a savage”
‘It gives me back that fire and that desire. So that’s what I want to show. That’s why I feel like I’m back.
“I have been at home training non-stop. I’ve become a gym rat again and I’m looking forward to officially stating that I’m back.’
