Deontay Wilder has a number of reasons to want to rid himself of Tyson Fury. Among the list, he plans to do this one for the culture.

The unbeaten heavyweight titlist looks to make his 11th defense in this weekend’s long-awaited rematch versus England’s Fury (29-0-1, 20KOs). Their bout airs live as part of a joint Pay-Per-View venture between Fox Sports and ESPN, airing live from MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas (Saturday, 9:00pm ET).

Wilder (42-0-1, 41KOs) views the event as culturally significant, taking place on the back end of Black History Month and having declared himself the best African-American boxer in the world today. While not necessarily turning the promotion into a race war, the fighting pride of Tuscaloosa, Alabama does carry a sense of pride heading into the biggest fight of his career to date. 

“I'm just looking forward to February 22. It's a great moment in time for me,” Wilder noted during a recent media conference call. “So many different events are happening, and of course we know it's Black History Month as well, so I'm looking forward to providing my service to my greatness on black history month and like I said, making Tyson Fury a black history trivia question.”

As it relates to the celebrated month, Wilder is 3-0 (3KOs) in fights landing during such a time frame. Just one has come during his five-year title reign, having stopped previously unbeaten Gerald Washington (20-3-1, 13KOs) in the 5th round of their February 2017 title fight in Birmingham, Alabama.

In Fury comes the only opponent Wilder has previously faced and failed to knockout, with the two fighting to a disputed 12-round draw in their December 2018 Showtime PPV event from Staples Center in Los Angeles. The event marked just the second time that Wilder had been extended 12 full rounds, the previous occasion igniting his title reign in a unanimous decision win over Bermane Stiverne in January 2015.

Wilder knocked out Stiverne in their November 2017 rematch, icing the former titlist in one round to restore his career-long mark of having knocked out every man he’s ever faced as a pro. It’s a status he plans to reclaim on Saturday night, one he insisted will go down in history during Wednesday’s final pre-fight press conference on site.

“When I knock the Gypsy Queen out, they gonna have [an answer to] a Black History trivia question,” vows Wilder.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox