Former WBC Heavyweight Champion Deontay Wilder has always been one of boxing’s most thoughtful voices on the culture and business of the sport — and ahead of his April 4th fight with Derek Chisora at the O2 Arena, he had plenty to say about what the public gets wrong about fighters, what authentic promotion looks like, and why he belongs to the 1%.
Speaking with Louis Hart of Ring Magazine during fight week in London, Wilder pushed back against the idea that fighters are simply training machines built for entertainment.
You got to keep a killer instinct. You got to keep that mindset going because you’re in a dangerous field. We risk our lives for others’ entertainment, all the time. I don’t think people on the outside understand the severity of what we really do. Most time when people see fighters, they think we’re robots — just supposed to train and fight, train and fight, train and fight. No, that’s not it.
The 1% Who Do What Others Won’t
For Wilder, being a professional fighter is a rare form of human expression that separates him from virtually everyone on the planet.
We risk our lives for others’ entertainment, and we love to do this. That’s why we do it. We’re the 1%. And it feels good to be of the 1% — to be able to do something that a lot of the world can’t do, or don’t have the heart or the gut to get in there.
Authentic Promotion vs. Trying Too Hard
Wilder also addressed the state of fight promotion — and offered a pointed critique of the performative beef that’s become commonplace in boxing.
Every fighter in the business should take a page out of a book of how to promote — because some guys just try too hard, and people know when they see it. But when it’s authentic and genuine, and I can say I love you, you love me and we’re friends, it makes a better fight for everyone. And it keeps the ones around you at ease.
His point was direct: the Wilder-Chisora dynamic — two men who genuinely respect each other stepping into the ring to compete at the highest level — is a better product than manufactured animosity, and fans can tell the difference.
Control What You Can Control
On managing the noise that surrounds big fights, Wilder kept his philosophy simple:
I only put energy in the things I can control, and don’t put no energy in the things you can’t control.
It’s a mindset that has served him through the full arc of a heavyweight career — from debut to fight 50. And heading into London, the Bronze Bomber sounds like a man who has figured out exactly who he is.
