by David P. Greisman
Deontay Wilder has heard the criticism of his level of opposition before, but he believes that one of his 32 wins, all by knockout, came against someone far better than anyone else Bermane Stiverne’s faced.
“They go off of one opponent. They go off of beating Chris Arreola, a brawler. They go off of him and say they paid their dues,” Wilder said on a Dec. 18 media conference call in advance of his fight with titleholder Stiverne on Jan. 17 on Showtime. Stiverne defeated Arreola twice, once by decision in April 2013 and once by technical knockout in May 2014
“But guess what, I got one man on my résumé that would kill Bermane’s whole record of opponents,” Wilder said. “He go by the name of Malik Scott. He would beat them hands down. … He would beat every opponent’s that on his record. Everybody can think what they want, but when it comes the time the night of the fight, the truth will reveal itself. And I’m super confident in what I can do. I’m super confident, and I cannot wait.”
Wilder downed Scott in the first round with a left hook and right hand this past March.
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