Deontay Wilder didn’t get the fight he wanted, but is confident he will remain undefeated when the WBC heavyweight champion fights Bermane Stiverne on Nov. 4 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Wilder is so confident, he said he would retire from boxing should he lose.
“If Bermane Stiverne beats me, I will retire,” a passionate Wilder said Tuesday during a media conference call. “I will be out of the way. Boxing ain’t got to worry about me because it ain’t doing me any good anyway. Nobody wants to fight. All I wanted to is prove that I am the best and the best don’t want to fight, so what’s the point?
“If Bermane beats me, y’all won’t have to hear about me no more. I’m done. It don’t get more serious than that, so let the games begin.
“I may move to MMA or some s—.”
The 32-year-old Wilder beat Stiverne on Jan. 17, 2015 to win the WBC belt and has successfully defended his title five times since. He is 38-0 with 37 knockouts and the only win that wasn’t by knockout was a 12-round unanimous decision over Stiverne.
Wilder was supposed to fight Luis Ortiz on Nov. 4, but Ortiz was pulled from the card on Oct. 4 after the former WBA champion failed a drug test. Stiverne (25-2-1, 21 KOs) was then named the replacement as a mandatory rematch.
“It starts to sicken me and I don’t want to feel this way about boxing because I was once in love with it,” a frustrated Wilder said. “It makes me rethink my career. Am I better out of this sport than in it because of the stuff that’s going on?
“Am I that dangerous to other fighters they fear they have to do certain things when it comes to Deontay Wilder?
“All I ever wanted to do is fight the best,” Wilder added. “It just saddens me with some of the activity going on in this sport.”
As for the disappointment of not facing Ortiz and being forced to fight Stiverne, Wilder said there won’t be a letdown and he will “release” his frustrations on Nov. 4.
“I can only do what I can do. All this stuff is just going to build up for me, but I can handle it well,” Wilder said. “I can’t wait because all this needs to be released. At the end of the day, what can you do? I can’t control all these fighters and what they’re going to do.
“I just want to prove to the world that I am the best. That’s all I want to do. I don’t care where the right is going to be. I don’t care about that stuff, just put me in the mother f—ing ring and let’s see who’s the best.”
The Nov. 4 fight is the second of two heavyweight championship fights after Anthony Joshua defends his WBA, IBO and IBF on Saturday against Carlos Takam in Wales.
Wilder wants to unify the belts and Joshua has said he wants to face Wilder in 2018. While Wilder said Tuesday the “ultimate goal is to get Joshua,” promoter Lou DiBella said Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, is getting in the way.
“If Eddie Hearn wants an Anthony Joshua fight in 2018, he knows who to call,” DiBella said Tuesday.
Stiverne, who will turn 39 on Nov. 1, has fought just once since losing to Wilder — beating Derric Rossy on Nov. 14, 2015. Despite the two-year layoff, Stiverne guaranteed a win because he’s training every day just to beat Wilder.
“This fight right here, there are not going to be any excuses,” Stiverne said. “I’m healthy. I’m ready… I will be the first to beat Wilder. That is something that will happen on Nov. 4.
“Everything he gave me (in the first fight), I ate like breakfast as a sick man in the ring.”
Wilder doesn’t understand Stiverne’s animosity toward him and said Stiverne will get what he asked for.
“If he feels like he’s ready, then we shall see,” Wilder said. “This time around, I don’t want any excuses.
“If he says he ate my punches for breakfast, I hope he left room for lunch.”
