Deontay Wilder is returning to fight in Saudi Arabia for the second time this June and has given a defiant reason why he likes fighting in the kingdom.
People could be excused for thinking that Wilder might not be such a fan of fighting out in the Middle East. In his one trip out there so far in his career he took a loss to Joseph Parker at the end of last year.
The normally big-hitting American knockout artist failed to get any of his shots off and ran out on the wrong end of a wide 12-round points loss.
Wilder once engaged in a thrilling up-and-down trilogy with British heavyweight champion Tyson Fury now has a chance to get back to his destructive best when he takes on another big hitter in Chinese heavyweight Zhilei Zhang on the undercard of Artur Beterbiev versus Dimitry Bivol on June 1.
Ahead of that he has spoken to The Stomping Ground about his last contest and what went wrong.
“The last one was a blessing in disguise. I thought I had things figured out. I got in a fight like that and realised I had more to go. After that fight, I hit the ground using that Monday morning so I’m looking forward to simply what is here.
“I lost the love of boxing, the fire inside me, due to a lot of things that occurred in my life. There is so much more outside the ring, the business, the personal problems, life itself, then come in and try and be the best you can be in a career, it’s a lot to deal with. We’re not robots.
Wilder then said he felt back to his violent best and wanted to get a ‘body on his record.’
“Now it’s time for me to be selfish. To look out for myself. The Bronze Bomber is back and I owe the Saudi fans some excitement, a knockout, and a great win.”
