Deontay Wilder Wants to Freeze out Sanctioning Bodies!
Around early September, Deontay “Bronze Bomber” Wilder found himself debunking a statement made by Anthony Joshua. Joshua essentially informed the media that he was little concerned with Wilder trying to ‘freeze him’ out. Shortly after the statement was made, Wilder responded directly to the falsehood on YouTube channel and 3kingsboxing.com affiliate 78SportsTV.
For the Bronze Bomber, nothing could be further from the truth. He has zero in intentions on avoiding AJ in any sort of manner. Not only did he not want to ostracize him, Wilder still harbors a great desire to fight Joshua. Yet, more than merely fight him, Wilder would promise that the UK darling would be his latest ragdoll knockout.
Sure, Wilder was not in the in the mindset to freeze out AJ. However, that doesn’t mean that he wasn’t in the mood for freezing out. Instead, the WBC heavyweight champion is quite ready to strike back against the active sanctioning bodies. During the same interview, the Alabamian heavy-hitter became particularly animated when discussing what he viewed as the extortion-themed corruption with the regulating bodies.
Wilder finds it hard to stomach that fighters risk their lives, while the fans pay their money and yet all too often the sanctioning bodies only serve their own personal interests. One of the most glaring examples of this is the bizarre number of belt-holding champions a body normally houses.
At any given time, in any and all divisions, there might be two to four separate champions recognized by each individual sanctioning body. At heavyweight, for example, the WBA currently recognizes Andy Ruiz Jr as its super champion, Manuel Charr as the world champion and Joe Joyce as the gold champion. Each one of these champions in each division, are handsomely taxed for the privilege of wearing those many belts.
“Because we pay the sanctioning fees at the end of the day, that shit come out of our money. You know how much stuff we pay for sanctioning?! That can go to our kid’s college funds, our kids 401K’s […] Why? For what?
“We can keep that money […] If they can’t cooperate bruh! It’s about that time to form something else, we have the power! They living off of us. At the end of the day, we the boss. We giving you guys the money to keep your organization alive, so with respect, give us what we want!
“You’ll still get your money.”
The Bomber is acutely fed up with these obviously greedy tactics that also water down what it means to be champion. As an alternative to the status quo, he suggested that fighters and fans should forego the traditional champion titles.
Leaving the bodies behind, the fans would be free to designate top dog status. In his estimation, the boxing public already has their mind made up as to who is running each division. And if not who the boss is, they understand what necessary fighters have to clash to settle the issue. So who needs an actual belt? That’s what Wilder wants to know.
“We don’t need no federations, to go back to the federations and organizations that control these belts. 78, at the end of the day, to be honest bruh, we don’t need them, we don’t need them.
“[…] So if they can’t cooperate and see the vision of what the people want and what the fighters want, WE are the fighters!! […] AJ says freezing out, we shall freeze them out, that’s the plan for me.
“We don’t need them to fight, the people know who is the champions, the people know. We can’t let a belt, we can’t let organizations hold us back no more! Give us what we want!”
The WBC champ did reel himself in a bit before he got too lost in fantasy land though. He had to admit that for such a bold move as freezing out the sanctioning bodies to work, there would have to be a grand coordination between fighters and fans. And this is a coordination that was highly unlikely of transpiring. Regardless of the probability of success however, the Bomber did maintain that the ultimate power in creating fighter match-ups resided with the boxers themselves and the fans who pay the bills, not the sanctioning bodies.
“Don’t let greed or money be the cause of you not giving us what we want […] but at the end of the day it takes these other niggas to have a willing heart, a brave heart to step outside those means and boundaries and to claim their throne as a king themselves and say ‘you know what, you right, let’s do it.’
“If not, then they don’t really want it.”
By: Bakari Simpson
