LOS ANGELES—Deontay Wilder is celebrating Black History Month by promising to make Tyson Fury a new addition to his knockout highlight reel, and by anointing himself as the best African-American boxer in the business.
“In my opinion, I will say yes. It’s me [as the best active African-American fighter]. I believe in myself, strongly. While I’m the heavyweight champion of the world, I display this to people. I lead by example,” said Wilder, separating himself from a skilled and select group that includes the likes of Terence Crawford, Errol Spence Jr, Gervonta Davis, Anthony Joshua, Jermell and Jermall Charlo, Demetrius Andrade, Gary Russell Jr., Shakur Stevenson and Devin Haney.
“This is going to be an amazing time for me because it’s Black History Month. After this fight with Fury, I’m going to make him a Black History trivia question. This fight means so much to me. I’m appreciative of the opposition in front of me. I’m big on my people, as everyone should be for theirs. You have to love your own.”
Wilder (42-0-1, 41 KOs) meets Fury (29-0-1, 20 KOs) on Feb. 22 in a highly anticipated heavyweight showdown at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas as part of an unprecedented Fox and ESPN pay-per-view promotion.
Ahead of his last fight with Luis Ortiz in November, Wilder said he never felt that he got the support or the passing of the torch from Floyd Mayweather as the best African-American boxer in the sport.
With a pride-filled month ahead celebrating his culture and heritage, Wilder’s confidence is already in fight-night form.
“If you don’t believe in yourself, how can you allow anyone else … if you don’t believe things are real, how can you have the motivation to do anything?” Wilder continued.
“We get discouraged in our own self because we worry about what others will say. How do you know? Who are you to say it? I’m going to do what my capabilities are. Have you put in the work? Have you sacrificed? We get discouraged as people because of our peers’ opinions. When you get involved with other people’s opinions, then you are going to stray from the game plan … Many people will say respect is earned, and I’ve done my fair share of earning that.”
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist and member of the Boxing Writers Assn. of America since 2011. He has written for the likes of the LA Times, Guardian, USA Today, Philadelphia Inquirer, Men’s Health and NFL.com and currently does TV commentary for combat sports programming that airs on Fox Sports and hosts his own radio show in Los Angeles. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan or via email at manouk.akopyan@gmail.com.