Undefeated WBC World Heavyweight Champion Deontay Wilder believes there is a double standard when it comes to how he’s perceived, and how his upcoming counterpart Tyson Fury is perceived.
“There’s a lot of things that I’ve had to deal with coming up that others don’t have to deal with. I consider Fury a con man and a con artist … He uses the lineal champion status as a cover up to feel some type of way about himself. He needs validation and confirmation because he doesn’t believe in himself,” said Wilder. “He’s boring in all of his outings. He fights low opposition [with low attendance figures].”
Wilder (42-0-1, 41 KOs) meets Fury (29-0-1, 20 KOs) on Feb. 22 in a highly anticipated heavyweight showdown at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas as part of an unprecedented Fox and ESPN pay-per-view promotion.
The two met in the ring once before to a highly disputed draw in 2018, months after Fury finally recovered from a life and career spiral that included cocaine and alcohol abuse, as well as mental health issues that led to near-suicide attempts.
“He beat Wladimir Klitschko, but never defended the belt because he was playing with his nose [doing drugs]. Nobody really talks about it though,” said Wilder. “Every time I talk or say something, when I say I want to put a body on my record and kill a man, that s— just goes all over. But when these guys are [shooting steroids], I’m the only one getting bad mouthed. My name is being dragged in the dirt. It’s not fair. These are the things that I’m talking about. And people don’t want to talk about race. They don’t want to talk about that s—. They want that to die, know what I’m saying? Why am I still talking about it? Because aint s— getting done about it. Now I have a position, and I’m going to keep it. I see it all. I’m a strong-minded person. I have to be.”
Wilder said that with this being the second go-round with Fury, he’s not believing a single word the unpredictable British boxer is saying.
“He’s very nervous. He can’t even stand still. He can’t even talk during the press conferences,” said Wilder. “What else is he going to say? We’ve been hearing his s— over and over again. The fight will be interesting though. He’s a great fighter, we’ll give him that. This is the biggest heavyweight fight in the world.”
–boxingscene.com
