Think Violently With a Calm Mind-Deontay Wilder

Deontay Wilder took part in an interesting interview with the PBC Podcast crew today in the lead up to his October 9th rematch with WBC Heavyweight Champion Tyson Fury. I am recommending this interview on my blog as it is a great insight to Wilder’s mentality heading into this fight and has some touching discussion of his family life. The often boisterous champion shows a more loving and familial side in this interview. Now I do not have Instagram or Facebook despite fence sitting on the possibility of doing it for my blog so I cannot say what he disseminates online. With that said I am mostly accustomed to his larger than life “bomb squad” persona and for those who have not seen him open up on the other aspects of life this is a nice listen. Of course the fight is discussed as well along with the team building he has done with ex fighter and former opponent Malik Scott in preparation for the rematch.

Relevant to the fight is his discussions on the new camp and his relationship with the new coach. Deontay discusses cutting out the snakes in his camp and Scott bringing out the best from him. Not that Scott has taught him anything new but what Scott has extracted from him is key to getting to the next level. Wilder did explain that Scott and himself were in discussion about the third fight the same weekend as the loss to Tyson Fury. As devastating as the loss was, it has only motivated Wilder whose main goal is victory. He discussed this fight as being a war not just between two men but part of a larger war in society. Scott has predicted a KO in five and Wilder himself declared the fight will be over in three. This is a very bold prediction from the man who describes fighting him as opponents needing to be perfect for twelve rounds and him only needing to be perfect for two seconds. Of course we know his power but we also saw what has occurred in the ring between Deontay and Tyson over two fights to know that this would be a stunning result.

Deontay does not open up much on strategy and significant changes. What we have seen online is pad work, bag work and some weight lifting. From what I have watched there are obvious improvements but that only goes so far. In sparring, Wilder opens up a little only to say that he has been dropping sparring partners routinely. He mentions rumors of young guys that are a part of his camp that sparred with Fury and “pieced him up”. I try not to put much weight on sparring stories but it is interesting to consider especially when seeing what Fury looked like at the press conference ahead of the initial fight that was postponed. Wilder appears as driven and focused as ever and Fury looked fat and complacent. Wilder believes Fury faked his COVID case citing his actions after testing positive and mentioned deaths in his family from COVID and this being more wood for the fire. Outside of that he did not say too much more on the fight. “Silence is Golden” and that is part of the plan he wants to show what he can do and not talk about it. This all business approach factored into his performance at the press conference where he wore headphones throughout and refused to talk with reporters. He says that he does not have too much to say and that people are watching him closely and always looking to get information out of him but he wants secrecy leading up to the rematch.