Deontay Wilder’s stark warning to the boxing world: ‘They’re lying to you, manipulating you’

The smell of fish and chips wafts through the air, but the speed of smell is slower than the speed of sound. “BOOOOOOMB SQUAAAAAAAAD!” screams Deontay Wilder, hurling his catchphrase down the hall like he might hurl a signature right hand, before forming a pearly-white grin. Draped in a long brown coat, Wilder strides through the building on gangly legs, eating his meal from a cardboard box, as his intense eyes lurk behind sunglasses. He tows along a sizeable entourage, as usual.

There is certainly something gravitational about the granite-knuckled Wilder, who boasts an awe-inspiring claim to being the hardest puncher that boxing has ever produced. He is a complicated character, one whose excuses have multiplied as his meanness in the ring has admittedly dwindled. After he arrives in the venue for a press conference with upcoming opponent Derek Chisora, two days into February, it doesn’t take long for whispers to bounce from mouth to mouth: the American, now 40, just erupted in a rage at TalkSport host Simon Jordan, at the organisation’s office around the corner. Then, not a whisper but an order from a PR: “Do not ask Deontay about Tyson Fury.”

Jordan’s mention of Wilder’s continued excuses over his duo of defeats by Fury, five years on from the latter loss, had angered the “Bronze Bomber” – to the point that he stood up from his seat and slowly bore down on Jordan, with security stepping in before Wilder left the room.

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By the time we speak to Wilder, he has thankfully calmed down and is in an introspective, philosophical mood. He discusses friends, foes, fighting Chisora, and fish and chips – but not Fury.

Chisora actually falls into the first two categories: he will be Wilder’s opponent at the O2 Arena this Saturday (4 April), but the pair are friends outside the ring. “Derek asked me, ‘You want some proper fish and chips? Let’s get some,’” Wilder says. “I like it. It’s not my favourite, but it’s something I will consume from time to time. And then I have my lady with me, this is her first time ever being here, so I wanted her to try something different.”

It is Wilder’s second time fighting in the UK, 13 years on from a win over Audley Harrison in Sheffield. “I met some beautiful people [on that trip], I still have friendships to this day,” he says. “Most of the time when I come here, I always get on with my old buddies. Even when I’m not here, we still talk, FaceTime, back in those times you had Skype. Here I am again, over a decade on.”

Over a decade on, yes, but not necessarily at the end of a storied boxing career. Britain’s Chisora, 42, insists he will retire regardless of Saturday’s result; Wilder should perhaps do the same, after four losses in his last six bouts, but he seems intent on pressing on.

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Either way, he is happy to discuss the past, present and future.

Reflecting on his origins in boxing, he says: “First of all, I wanted to take care of my daughter, and then be a champion. The only reason I got into this was to risk my life to save a life. Now, [my family] get taken care of. Even when I die, they’re going to be taken care of as well.”

At this point, I note that some text on his top reads: “Better with age, aged to perfection.” Still, “I don’t strive to be perfect,” he says. “That’s walking a thin line. If everybody was perfect, this world would be boring, it wouldn’t have no chaos. I do try to live a righteous life, but I love age, I’ve always been a person to love age. As I’m getting older, I think everything becomes better.”

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Yet one thing that hasn’t necessarily gotten better, in Wilder’s opinion, is the state of boxing. He expresses this in an unprompted monologue about the sport, with which he has a markedly different relationship than Chisora does (minutes after we meet Wilder, Chisora tells us of his “love” for this “scumbag sport”, hinting at the same issues as Wilder, but looking at them through a different lens).

“When I first got into this business, it was very exciting,” Wilder starts, “because I only knew what I would hear and see. As you go along, you see a lot of things behind closed doors. I didn’t know who was taking from these fighters, it just makes you feel bad and sad. It’s like: ‘Damn, these motherf*****s are lying to you, manipulating you.’ And that’s why I say boxing mostly consists of criminals and w***es, that’s just the God-honest truth.

“You’ve just got to know how to work it. You think you know a person until you know a person, and what would bring the truth out of a person? Money, because the love of money is the root of all evil. Everybody’s got an agenda, and unfortunately it doesn’t feel good when someone has an agenda and says they love you, they’re sitting at the table with you and your children, eating your food, staying at your house, but at the same time they’re stealing from you.

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“You’ve got to be careful who you trust, because how they are now, they could be different 5-10 years later. Everybody changes, even our taste buds change every 10 years.”

Wilder has changed over the last 10 years. While he stills shouts about his “Bomb Squad!!!”, he throws fewer bombs. Against Chisora, that could be a big problem.