"I had to fight my brother" - Deontay Wilder recalls the hardships of boxing against Malik Scott in the past
Deontay Wilder has spoken about what it was like to fight one of his best friends in an eliminator for the WBC world heavyweight championship. ‘The Bronze Bomber’ fought his now-trainer Malik Scott in 2014.
Regarding this bout, Wilder said:
“I had to fight my brother one time before...We was tight. It is like my brother, but I had to give him that talk. I was like ‘Bro, we need to get ready to fight. I got to [be] in-camp without you. This is going to be my last day talking to you till after the fight — I can't talk to you no more. We got to hurt each other in the ring to get to the next step, but I love you and ill see you after the fight is over’. And he agreed, and we ended that conversation.”
Watch the full interview here:
When Malik Scott faced Deontay Wilder, he had only lost one previous professional bout (a TKO to Derek Chisora). Wilder, on the other hand, was unbeaten and had knocked out all of his previous opponents. 'The Bronze Bomber' had been knocking his opponents out early, and Scott ended up his next victim. Wilder knocked out Malik Scott in the first round.
Watch Deontay Wilder vs Malik Scott here:
Malik Scott was once considered one of the heavyweight division's hottest prospects. Until the KO defeat to Chisora, everything was going to plan. Then, Scott would lose to Wilder (and later Luiz Ortiz) before retiring from boxing.
The Wilder-Scott bout itself was rather controversial, as Scott was accused of taking a dive. The punch that ends the fight does not look to land cleanly; however Wilder is a concussive puncher.
Deontay Wilder and Malik Scott had a happy ending
Deontay Wilder added Malik Scott to his training camp for Wilder’s trilogy fight with Tyson Fury. Wilder looked good in the early rounds against Tyson Fury and knocked him down twice in the bout. However, it was still not good enough as Fury ultimately won the bout via TKO. After the bout, Scott praised his fighter's performance while claiming that Fury was greater.
Wilder spoke about their relationship and added:
"It just brought us even closer, with the relationship. There is just something about fighting and the relationship you had — it can either bring you further apart or it can bring you much closer”
Watch Malik Scott dissect Wilder’s performance against Fury and talk about their relationship: