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Deontay Wilder: Explosive American Heavyweight Ready for WAR

Exclusive Interview by Marc Anthony

“Look forward to see a knockout and look forward to see excitement.” – Deontay Wilder

Deontay Wilder, 19-0, 19 KO’s, also known as the “Bronze Bomber” is a fresh exciting American Heavyweight boxer with incredible power. At 6 feet, 7 inches, and born with physical gifts, Deontay didn’t just take it for granted. He has worked very hard in boxing in just a short amount of time. Wilder made history in the 2007 Golden Gloves by being the first fighter to ever win in this prestigious tournament with less than 20 amateur fights, followed up in 2008, where he qualified for the Olympics going on to win the Bronze medal, the only American to medal that year. Interesting enough he holds a win over the 2008 Gold Medalist Rakhim Chakhiyev.

Even though Deontay has been a pro for only 3 years, he has gained the respect of his fellow fighters. Many how have sparred with him are saying he will be a force to be reckoned with. Once again Deontay, on November 26, will step inside the ring and face David Long. 11-1-2, 7 KO’s, who is coming in with a 6 fight win streak. At US BANK ARENA in Cincinnati OH.

Focused and highly motivated Deontay shares his boxing goals with RSR.

MA: Your last fight was in Mexico, less than 30 days ago. You are now going to fight in Ohio. How crazy has the traveling been?

It’s been pretty crazy. I just put it on my mind that it just comes with boxing. I am trying to get somewhere in this sport and this is what it takes. It’s going take you to sacrifice leaving your family…your loved ones…to get to where you have to go. That way when you reach your goals to wherever you are trying to get to, you look back upon it and say: “Man it was all worth it.”

MA Did you feel fighting in Mexico was a great opportunity to increase your Mexican fan base?

Oh, most definitely! I thought it was a great opportunity for me. The crazy part about it when you go to another country…you never know what to expect but it you always get that warm feeling when you get off the plane and get into the airport to get your luggage. It was a great feeling…people knew who I was. Then when I fought one of their own, after the victory they swamped my dressing room wanting to get autographs and pictures. They showed me so much love. That’s one of my things that I want to reach out to the Hispanic community: they are big into boxing. I work hard on my Spanish because one day I want to do interviews with them and stuff like that. It was a great opportunity for me. I think I gained a lot of fans out there.

MA: How did you and Golden Boy get involved?

After the Olympics, I signed up with Shelly Finkel, which was my manager and he reached out to other promotion companies telling them about me. I am sure after bringing home an Olympic medal it’s not that hard to see that I have potential that one day I could become Heavyweight Champion of the World. It wasn’t very hard when Shelly did what he had to do and we did what we had to do. Everything just started well and here I am with Golden Boy.

MA: You have been blessed with great physical ability but can you talk about the importance of having a positive mindset to compliment your gifts?

It is very important to have a very positive mindset because if you are positive, you think positive thoughts, you never doubt yourself, you never second guess yourself, You are going to give it your all and you are going to give it 110 percent as I always say. If you have a negative mindset, you are going to second guess yourself. You are going to think that you are not doing enough or you can’t be what you want to be or get where you want to go.

They say if you want to be rich, you surround yourself with rich people. If you want to do bad things in society all you have to do is surround yourself with those people and you shall become that. I want to be the next champ. I want to be successful in life period. So, I surround myself with champions and people who are successful in life.

MA: Speaking of surrounding yourself with champions. You have sparred with the top pros like David Haye, Tomasz Adamek, to help them prepare for the Klitschko brothers. How helpful has that been for you?

That has been great for me. If I had any doubts in my abilities or what other people may think of me, I have known no more. To get the opportunity to work with those guys and spar with them was a great opportunity for me. The things that I was able to do with them in sparring: I think I shocked them. It was great for me. I know if I can hang in there with those guys that anybody else won’t be a force for me. That whole thing was a confidence builder for me. After leaving those camps I had more confidence than I came with.

MA: In a fictional fight which Klitschko brother would win?

I think Vitali would win. He is mentally tough…he is tougher.

MA: Being an Olympian, what advice would you give to our current Olympic team heading into 2012 Olympics?

If I could give them advice I would just tell them: Listen to what the coaches tell you to do. Whatever the workout is? Go hard and go 110 percent in all your workouts. Don’t hold back. Give it all you got. Because when you get to the Olympics and fight, when you give it all you got and you if you come up with the short end of the stick and somehow you lose you can’t look down at yourself and say I should have or could have done this even more. Just give it all you got: that’s all you can do. Don’t cheat yourself. No short cuts to success. Go out in every round and fight hard.

MA: Do you have a favorite punch?

If you would ask anybody else about me they would say my right hand, but I don’t really have a favorite. Whatever I see, my body reacts to it. I can tell you this: I don’t know the measurements of my power. I have wicked power and I don’t know how strong I really am. Whatever opening I see, I throw it. I let my hands go and whatever happens…happens. I never try to go in there and knock the go out or try to get him out of there. Just whatever happens…happens.

I have gone so far in this boxing that my body has muscle memory. If I see an opening: automatically my hand shoots without even thinking about doing it, when it first happened to me I felt like: Wow that is so weird. My hands just threw and I didn’t even think about it. I don’t have a favorite.

MA; Fair enough, that sounds pretty crazy how you threw the punch and didn’t even think about it.

Yeah, the first time it ever happened it was so weird. I paused for a minute. It was like my hands had a mind of their own. Like literary had a mind of their own, I saw an opening and hands just threw. Even the last fight in Mexico, when I pivot out my body automatically, even without knowing that his face would be there, my hand automatically came and bam. When I saw myself on the replay on video I was like man…wow.

MA: Message to RSR readers on what to expect for your upcoming fight?

When you come to a Deontay Wilder show you already know what to expect. Expect a knockout. I set a goal for myself in boxing: not only be undefeated but have all my victories be won by knockouts. Be it the first round or the last fifteen seconds of the last round, I want to win by knockout. Look forward to see a knockout and look forward to see excitement.

Deontay Wilder
Nickname: “The Bronze Bomber”
Division: Heavyweight
Professional Record: 19-0-0, 19 KO’s

2011-11-05 Daniel Cota 17-3-1 Cancun, MX W KO 3
2011-08-27 Dominique Alexander 20-11-1 Tuscaloosa, US W TKO 2
2011-06-18 Damon Reed 46-15-0 Tuscaloosa, US W KO 2
2011-05-06 Reggie Pena 6-6-0 Indio, US W TKO 1
2011-02-19 DeAndrey Abron 15-6-0 Tuscaloosa, US W TKO 2

2010-12-02 Dan Sheehan 11-38-0 Lafayette, US W KO 1
2010-10-15 Harold Sconiers 17-20-2 Indio, US W TKO 4
2010-09-25 Shannon Caudle 9-0-1 Tunica, US W KO 1
2010-07-03 Dustin Nichols 4-2-0 Hattiesburg, US W RTD 1
2010-04-30 Alvaro Morales 4-7-5 Las Vegas, US W TKO 3
2010-04-02 Ty Cobb 7-1-0 Las Vegas, US W KO 1

2009-11-28 Jerry Vaughn 2-0-1 Cincinnati, US W KO 1
2009-08-14 Travis Allen 3-4-0 Tucson, US W TKO 1
2009-06-26 Kelsey Arnold 1-2-2 Tucson, US W KO 1
2009-05-23 Charles Brown 6-15-1 Cincinnati, US W KO 1
2009-04-24 Joseph Rabotte 3-5-0 Chicago, US W KO 1
2009-03-14 Richard Greene Jr 1-1-0 Cincinnati, US W RTD 1
2009-03-06 Shannon Gray 1-0-0 Columbus, US W TKO 1

2008-11-15 Ethan Cox 2-2-1 Nashville, US W TKO 2

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