Move aside Gervonta Davis and Canelo Alvarez—Deontay Wilder clearly feels nobody is more deserving than himself to be the Face of Boxing.
In a recent interview, the former heavyweight titlist from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, took exception to the notion that Baltimore’s Davis or Mexico’s Alvarez were more worthy of being identified as the prime mover in the sport. Davis and Alvarez have both asserted that they merited the distinction, which is a kind of barometer of talent and popularity.
According to Wilder, the Face of Boxing distinction (which, admittedly, is no more real than pound-for-pound lists) can only belong to a heavyweight such as himself, who routinely fights opponents that are much heavier than him.
“I never agreed with the ‘faces of boxing’ [debate],” Wilder told Brian Custer on The Last Stand Podcast. “What did that mean? That’s something that someone came up with and wanted to put out there and put a name or face to it. ‘Oh it depends on the popularity’—nah. Because everybody gets different opportunities. Just because one guy out here is more [popular] that means someone is helping him with opportunities to be out there. There’s a lot of great fighters, brilliant fighters who will never get the opportunity to display themselves … These guys that out here are getting the opportunities. They had the help, they had other people that been in the business to get that shine on them, do you understand me?
“They gon’ be the face of their own individual weight class. Now when these guys come up, when these so-called faces of boxing come up into our world, and you start knocking on some of these heavyweights, then I’d be glad to say, ‘Damn, he is the face of boxing.’ You understand me?
“If I had to go down and lose weight to prove to show them who the face of boxing is, then let that begin. Let the smallest man gain weight and come up to the heavyweight. Let’s play that game and we’ll see who’s the real face of boxing. I’ll guarantee you that a heavyweight is willing to fight anybody than a smaller weight [fighter]. You ain’t gonna get no small guy to fight a heavyweight. Now, as a heavyweight, I’ll fight any man in the motherf—— world, you understand me? Any division.”
Look at me. I’m probably one of the smallest heavyweights in the business. But all these other [fighters], they get mad when motherf—— get two pounds over [the weight limit of their weight division]. I fight guys 20, 40, 50 pounds heavier than me. And people want to be the face of boxing? C’mon man. Get outta here. You the face of your weight division. And I ain’t hatin’ on nobody. I’m just speaking logically. People have to sit back and think, like, damn you can’t be the whole face of boxing if you just fighting guys in your weight division and y’all motherf—— cryin’ about people going two pounds, three pounds over when I’m up here fighting motherf—— 50, 60 pounds heavier than me. And still layin’ their ass out. Hello!”
Wilder is preparing to take on former titlist Joseph Parker on Dec. 23 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on a card headlined by Anthony Joshua versus Otto Wallin.
Sean Nam is the author of Murder on Federal Street: Tyrone Everett, the Black Mafia, and the Last Golden Age of Philadelphia Boxing.