WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman has hit out at Deontay Wilder’s recent comments in which the champion boxer suggested that he would have little issue with killing his opponent, Dominic Breazale, inside the ring when they meet in the Barclay’s Center in two days’ time.
Wilder revealed the comments in a series of media interviews this week, saying: “Hey, Dominic Breazeale asked for this. I didn’t go seek him, he (sought) me so if (death) comes, it comes. This is a brutal sport. This is not a gentleman’s sport. I keep saying this is not a gentleman’s sport. We don’t ask to hit each other in the face but we (do) anyway.
“And if you can ask any doctor in the world, he’ll tell you the head is not meant to be hit. Anybody can go, and in this particular time we have bad blood against each other,” Wilder said.
“This is the only sport where you can kill a man and get paid for it at the same time. It’s legal, so why not use my right to do so?” he said. “His life is on the line for this fight and I do mean his life. I’m still trying to get me a body on my record.”
You won’t be too surprised to learn that Sulaiman wasn’t overly-enamoured with the idea of his heavyweight champion openly discussing the possibility of killing a man, live on pay-per-view.
I have seen Deontay Wilder comments which are regrettable and completely against the spirit of our sport. I have known Wilder for a long time and he is not the person he portrays in such comments. His metaphors are against the WBC code of ethics and will be addressed in a hearing
— Mauricio Sulaiman (@wbcmoro) May 16, 2019
“I have seen Deontay Wilder comments which are regrettable and completely against the spirit of our sport,” he wrote. “I have known Wilder for a long time and he is not the person he portrays in such comments. His metaphors are against the WBC code of ethics and will be addressed in a hearing.”
Details of this hearing haven’t yet been released, including whether or not Wilder will be obliged to attend.
Breazeale, a former Olympian, is a 20-1 professional with his sole loss coming in 2016 at the hands of Anthony Joshua.
