Giving unbeaten Luis Ortiz a second chance after the Cuban slugger failed a drug test last October wasn’t something WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder felt he needed to do. This decision was more of a want, based on an internal need for Wilder to do what every boxing fan has been asking him since first winning his title in 2015: solidify himself as legitimate by beating a top heavyweight.
It’s not that Wilder (39-0, 38 KOs), who spent most of his career matched slow and soft, hasn’t tried to repeal that reputation of late. In fact, Ortiz became the third straight fighter who signed to face him only to then fail a drug test, in a scenario which is nothing short of unprecedented.
On Saturday, the 32-year-old Wilder will aim for the seventh defense of his title in a career-defining date against Ortiz (28-0, 24 KOs) at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York (Showtime, 9 p.m. ET).
“I have been wanting to prove myself for a long time and have been saying that I’m the best of this heavyweight division and the best of this era,” Wilder told CBS Sports’ “In This Corner” podcast on Monday. “America has had a badass who goes by the name Deontay Wilder. I just haven’t had the opportunity to prove it.”
Along with England’s Anthony Joshua (20-0, 20 KOs), who is set to unify his pair of titles with WBO champion Joseph Parker (24-0, 18 KOs) on March 31 in Wales, Wilder is one half of the face of the new heavyweight era.
In the lonely 14 years since Lennox Lewis’ retirement, which sent the division to its least relevant time in modern history, the only viable heavyweights casual fans could name were Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko. And in the case of the Klitschko brothers, most were less than entertained by their dominance.
Wilder and Joshua head a pack of hungry, exciting and dangerous punchers with great size and, for the most part, a willingness to test themselves against each other (which is playing out in next month’s de facto four-man tournament).
That doesn’t mean the current crop compares from a historical quality standpoint to the last great eras — the 1970s and 1990s — but at least there’s a breath of exciting fresh air that the sport has lacked. Let’s not forget the old adage that as the heavyweights go, so does boxing.
When asked to compare his era to the great ones of old, Wilder didn’t give a complete answer. Instead, he spoke about his hopes to take from the past in order to make for a brighter future.
“The only thing I’ll say about the past era is that those guys were not afraid to fight each other,” Wilder said. “They fought each other! That is what made their eras so unique and great and still to be talked about to this day because those guys fought each other. It doesn’t matter whether it was two time or three times, they would probably get in there a fourth time. They fought each other.
“Nowadays, in this era, everybody wants to keep their [unbeaten record]. Nobody wants to fight. Everybody talking about making it a business. Yes, we have family, we need money. Yes, we risk our lives. But that’s the difference ? everybody wants to be a businessman all of a sudden. Nobody wants to lose.
“But what people don’t understand is that this is boxing. Sometimes you lose and sometimes you win, but if you lose, it’s not over. If you feel and believe that you can come back off this, you can probably be even greater than before. You can’t be a three or four-time heavyweight champion if you don’t lose. Nowadays, they are scared.”
If you weren’t up on Wilder’s current beefs, you may have missed the subtle shots he was taking at Joshua, a 2012 Olympic gold medalist, who has risen at rapid speed to become the biggest star in the sport. In 2017, Joshua not only knocked out former champion Wladimir Klitschko, he fought in front of crowds of 90,000 and 78,000, with the latter breaking the sport’s indoor attendance record.
But when it comes to talk about a 2018 unification fight should both win in March — a fight that would be one of the most attractive the sport can make — Joshua and promoter Eddie Hearn have largely pushed the idea off for another year.
Some believed the comeback of unbeaten Tyson Fury, the lineal champion who is fresh off a two-year hiatus, could spoil the party. Hearn, however, has recently talked publicly about wanting to bring Joshua to New York for his U.S. debut later this summer, possibly against the Hearn-promoted Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller (20-0-1, 18 KOs).
So, how does Wilder avoid becoming part of another Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao drama that hijacks the sport and takes years to consummate? A frustrated Wilder said it comes down to winning.
“I’ve been calling this guy out for almost two years now. Some people are just getting in tuned to this,” Wilder said. “Some people would say I just want to fight because I’m desperate. No, no, no. When you talk about Deontay Wilder, go back and do your research about me. I’ve been calling out Joshua for almost two years and it’s always the same thing.
“It boils down to everything they wanted me to do, I’m checking off their list. Once I beat Luis Ortiz, in the fashion I’m doing it, I don’t think I have to do anything else but win. Once I beat Ortiz, there is nowhere for them to run or hide. They can continue to put up these excuses that they feed to the people on the other side of the pond but once I go over there, I’m done with the talking.”
Wilder, who calls himself the heavyweight division’s “eraser,” scoffed at Ortiz’s excuse of undisclosed blood pressure medicine as the reason for his failed drug test, saying, “I’m looking forward to erasing his name out of boxing history.” Then his focus will turn exclusively to Joshua.
“People know one thing for sure, Deontay Wilder wants this fight,” he said. “When it comes to Anthony Joshua and his people, they are uncertain. They are scared and nervous. They know that I am the eraser, I am the one who is going to tear down their London Bridge. I am the one.”
