Deontay Wilder shares heartwarming statement: reveals boxing idol with utmost respect

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Former Heavyweight champion, Deontay Wilder recently revealed the boxer he respects more than all the others that ever boxed. Wilder’s championship defense streak was stopped at the 11th through a loss to Tyson Fury in 2020.

He disclosed that his idol in the boxing world is Muhammad Ali, recently, and why.

‘It’s hard right now for a black man, we’ve all got P.T.S.D. coming out of the womb, in the environment that we have come up in. To see what he had done, in the times that he did it in, and he was great inside of the ring too, he lost some battles and won some battles, he put on an incredible show, which provided a service to his greatness.’

Muhammad Ali won his first Olympic gold at the age of 18, and won a Heavyweight belt four years later. In the next two years, Ali joined the Nation of Islam, and later refused to be drafted into the U.S. army being sent to fight in Vietnam. This cost him all his titles, with all the organizations linked to his titles stripping him of his position as the titleholder.

Muhammad Ali

He narrowly missed prison, but was not allowed to participate in official boxing for several years later. When Americans started to dislike the war being fought in Vietnam, he was later allowed to fight again. But he lost his best years, and none knows what he would have become if his career was not hindered for that period of time.

My enemy is the white people, not Viet Cong or Chinese or Japanese. You my opposer when I want freedom. You my opposer when I want justice. You my opposer when I want equality. You won’t even stand up for me in America for my religious beliefs—and you want me to go somewhere and fight, but you won’t even stand up for me here at home?

– Muhammad Ali.

‘He risked his life for our entertainment,’ Wilder went on to say. ‘And it was amazing to see, but the work that he done on the outside of the ring, the respect and the love that he had from people all over the world, all types of people, no matter what colour, gender, size, shape, he was loved.’

A fun fact is that Deontay Wilder won a belt on Muhammad Ali’s birthday. That was said to be very special to him.

Going further to explain the reason he chose Ali above all the others, he said, ‘He was loved because of the man that he was and the work that he provided in the community, the service, the unselfishness that he provided to the people. I have nothing but respect for that, he is one of my mentors, that is my idol in boxing.’