Deontay Wilder says he wants to kill opponent Dominic Breazeale in the ring this weekend, and we don't mean in a figurative sense. The controversial American fighter will take on his compatriot at Barclays Centre in Brooklyn on Saturday evening, with some bad blood between the pair heading into the bout.
That stems from Wilder's TKO victory over Gerald Washington in 2017, when Breazeale vocally supported Wilder's opponent.
Speaking to some members of the media in the buildup to Saturday's fight, Wilder says he wants to take advantage of boxing's laws by literally ending Breazeale's life in the ring.
Deontay Wilder says it's legal in boxing to "kill a man and get paid for it at the same time ... so why not use my right to do so?"
(via @ryansongalia) pic.twitter.com/PvW6FpAfd5— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 15, 2019
His life is on the line for this fight… and I do mean his life.
I’m still trying to get me a body on my record… Dominic Breazeale asked for his. I didn’t go seek him, he seeked me. So if it comes, it comes.
This is a brutal sport, this is not a gentleman’s sport. I keep saying this is not a gentleman’s sport, we don’t ask to hit each other in the face, but we do anyway.
And you can ask any doctor around the world, he’ll tell you the head is not meant to be hit. Anybody can go and, on this particular time, we have bad blood against each other.
This is the only sport where you can kill a man and get paid for it at the same time. It’s legal, so why not use my right to do so?
These quotes have not gone down well in the boxing community, being labelled as despicable in some quarters. Trash talk is one thing, but entering a fight with the aim of killing your opponent seems to bring this to a whole new level.
Wilder made similar comments in the past in the buildup to his 2017 fight against Bermane Stiverne.
