Certain fighters have different motivations.
Some want to make as much money as possible and get out of the fight game early. Others are concerned with cementing their legacy by showing an improved skill-set each and every time they take to the ring.
Deontay Wilder is a different animal entirely in that one of his goals is to claim a life.
Wilder wants to look a man in the eye with the knowledge that his opponent has kissed his family goodbye for the last time and then Wilder wants to beat that man to death.
The WBC heavyweight champion is facing an investigation following his horrific comments on hoping to end an opponent’s life in the ring.
“I want a body on my record. I want one. I really do,” Wilder said on The Breakfast Club earlier this week. “That’s the ‘Bronze Bomber’. He wants one. I always tell people that when I’m in the ring then I’m the ‘Bronze Bomber’ and with him, it’s so crazy, I don’t really care. Everything about me changes. I don’t get nervous. I don’t get scared. I don’t get butterflies. I don’t have any feeling towards the other man in the fight.”
Even some of Wilder’s own fans have turned on the undefeated fighter for his bizarre desire to kill a fellow fighter.
Anthony Joshua doesn’t share that desire with Wilder but he refuses to ridicule ‘The Bronze Bomber’ for his remarks.
Fresh from his unanimous decision victory over Joseph Parker in Cardiff, Joshua discussed Wilder’s stance and while he didn’t condemn him, he provided a lesson in class to the controversial American.
“I don’t condemn him. To each their own,” Joshua said in his post-fight conference. “It’s the same with the judges and the referees. It’s not my job to talk on what they do.
“Wilder’s Wilder. That’s what you’re going to get. That’s what he wants to do.
“I wouldn’t want a body on my record. As always, I say my prayer in my corner. I pray for success and I pray for his health and I pray that he’ll be safe when he leaves the ring.
“I even made sure to speak to Parker’s mum before she left and told her to pat her son on the back and that he’d done well. That goes a long way.
“Why would I want to kill her son in the ring?
“But each to their own. For me, that’s not my thing. But let’s not belittle him for what he said. That’s who he is and we have to accept him for that.”
