Wilder warns challenger of May 'massacre'

NEW YORK - Not to be outdone by the other heavyweight titleholder, Deontay Wilder showed he can be a champion at trash talk, too.

A month after Anthony Joshua and Jarrell Miller squared off in a nasty, expletive-infused war of words to announce their fight - Joshua owns the major belts other than the WBC, which is Wilder's - the man known as the "Bronze Bomber" and Dominic Breazeale went at it on Tuesday at Barclays Center.

Fans can only hope the May 18 fight is as action packed.

"It's always great to get a mandatory defense out of the way. They're like flies buzzing in my ear. I just want to get them out of the way so I can do great things for the heavyweight division," said Wilder, who wasn't so great in his last outing, when he drew with Tyson Fury, the first time he didn't win in 40 career bouts.

"I want one champion, one face, one name, but you need a lot of cooperation to make that happen."

Wilder, who has 39 knockouts, was referring to getting Joshua into the ring to unify the titles. But Wilder has remained tied to Showtime and spurned the opportunity to join streaming service DAZN, which now has Joshua.

Any unification fight could be several months away.

Indeed, should Wilder pull off what he claims will be a "massacre" of Breazeale, another meeting with Fury eventually could happen. But Fury is now affiliated with ESPN through his promoter, Top Rank.

Regardless, Wilder has worked up a lot of animosity toward Breazeale (20-1, 18 KOs), whose only loss is to Joshua.

And the feeling is mutual.

"I'm sick of seeing this bum walking around with his belt," Breazeale said. "He's a chump in the ring. I'm going to put him down."

Both fighters are 33 and both are American. Breazeale is ranked the No 4 contender by the WBC.

Wilder-Breazeale will be the second heavyweight title fight in New York in two weeks; Joshua-Miller follows on June 1.

Perhaps most noteworthy is that, unlike Joshua's defense that will be streamed, Wilder chose to stick with cable TV and Showtime, praising the channel's loyalty to him.

DAZN has made rapid inroads in boxing, notably through its deals with Briton Joshua and Mexican Canelo Alvarez, two of the sport's most popular stars. HBO has dropped out of boxing.

"It was critical for Deontay, for the sport and his fans that this fight be available not on pay-per-view, but on Showtime," said Stephen Espinoza, Showtime's president of sports and event programming.

Wilder is confident of knocking out Breazeale. "Every man I've faced has landed on the canvas," Wilder said. "I'm going to continue to do that on May 18."

Associated Press