Deontay Wilder in chilling warning to Tyson Fury ahead of huge WBC heavyweight showdown
The unbeaten pair go head-to-head in Los Angeles on December 1
BOXING’S biggest taboo is never far from Deontay Wilder’s mind.
Every time he goes through the ropes, he considers the fact he possesses the power to kill his opponent.
For each fight, he leaves behind his day-to-day persona, the doting dad and devout Christian, to become the feared Bronze Bomber.
He slides a mask over his face to go to work, to try to render his rival unconscious.
Next Saturday at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles, he will try to make Brit Tyson Fury another statistic, another notch on his rifle of a right arm — and the prospect scares him.
WBC world heavyweight champion Wilder, 33, said: “When my mind transforms it is a scary feeling because it is a source of power that takes over and allows me to feel like I know I can kill a man.
“People have a problem with me saying it because I can do so.
“People have a problem, because I do possess the power to do it.
“When I have a feeling come over me, I don’t know the strength of my own power. It’s unexplainable.
“The week of the fight is when I start to transform, it just takes hold, especially the day of the fight.
“I’m no longer myself, nothing is funny, everything is serious.”
Bermane Stiverne became the only man to take Wilder the distance when the Canadian lost a unanimous decision in 2015.
His reward was a savage first-round knockout when they met again two years later.
Wilder, with his giant wingspan and skinny legs, looks ungainly.
But his one-punch power is amongst the most terrifying threats in the sport.
And he makes no secret of his urgency to beat men as soon as possible, once he is in savage mode.
He said: “A fighter is not going to stay in the ring with me if I don’t want them to. I have a killer instinct that is crazy.
“If you are hurt and wounded, you are going to get out of there. I don’t get paid for overtime, so why sit around? Why wait?
“I like to get a knockout, the heavyweight division is based on power.
“I like to give the people what they want to see, a devastating knockout, and I deliver that each and every time.”
Despite his undefeated 40-0 record, which includes 39 knockouts, the American is still not a household name in his own country.
Even in his home town of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, some locals look puzzled when you mention him.
Wilder says boxing struggles to compete with some of the more popular US sports.
But he also claims his skin colour still offends some people.
When referencing the Tulsa race riot of 1921, when hundreds of black people were massacred and their thriving Black Wall Street community burned to the ground, his voice rattles with emotion.
WILDER AND FURY'S HEAD-TO-HEAD RECORD
Here's how the heavyweight kings' professional records compare ahead of next weekend's showdown...
DEONTAY WILDER
FIGHTS: 40
WINS: 40
WINS BY KO: 39
TYSON FURY
FIGHTS: 27
WINS: 27
WINS BY KO: 19
And he insisted those sinister sentiments are still around today — no matter how rich or famous you get.
Wilder said: “People don’t understand when you’ve never had to go through controversy or go through people having animosity because of the colour of your skin.
“You’ve never had to go through stores and feel you’re being looked upon, even if you’ve got money.
“It’s a subject that’s like beating an animal with a stick.
“The thing about being black is there are people who are intimidated by it and who fear it because of what they think or may have heard, or what has happened in history.
“Black people just want to be like other people, to have a good life and provide a great life for their
families.
“But even when we try to advance and do our own thing, racism doesn’t allow it to happen.
“On Black Wall Street, when black people all over were able to have their own hospitals, their own banks, their own everything, a white person came along and burned all that down to the ground.
“What more can you want? You say, ‘Do your own thing’ but when someone does that the motherf***** still comes along and f**** with you.
“What have we done so wrong? We’ve had 400 years of this s*** and it’s still going, so you can never understand it.
“When someone outspoken like me speaks about it, it counts against me because no one wants to hear it.”
BT Sport Box Office will exclusively show Wilder v Fury on December 1, available to buy for just £19.95. Find out more at www.bt.com/sportboxoffice.
