Deontay Wilder expecting best shot from Chris Arreola
WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder and challenger Chris Arreola stare each other down at a press conference in advance of Saturday's title fight at Birmingham's Legacy Arena. (Solomon Crenshaw Jr./Alabama NewsCenter)
Deontay Wilder left no doubt about it. Chris Arreola isn’t worthy of the shot he’ll get Saturday to take Wilder’s World Boxing Council heavyweight title.
“Do he deserve a title shot? No, he don’t,” Wilder said during a press conference Thursday in the Arena Club at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex. “He knows that himself. That’s no secret.”
But Arreola, who is bidding to become the first fighter of Mexican descent to earn a heavyweight crown, was the man Wilder needed as he returns to the ring after his scheduled May 21 meeting with Russian Alexander Povetkin in Moscow was canceled after Povetkin tested positive for meldonium, a banned substance.
“We chose him because we know that in shape or out of shape, he’s gonna fight,” Wilder said. “He’s gonna give his best.”
And the challenger thinks his best will be good enough to take the belt that Wilder passionately calls Sophia. He said he’ll go in “guns ablazing, but smart.”
“Vegas has the odds at 30-to-1 against me,” Arreola said. “Place your bets. Make some money, man. I’m ready. I’m ready for this fight. I’m hungry.”
Wilder says he, too, is hungry, because of the canceled fight in Moscow.
“I’ve been waiting to pound something since May,” he said. “The only reason I’m doing it at home is I didn’t want to see another plane. I said I’m coming back home where I can get all my hugs and kisses.”
Wilder was dressed in a blue suit and bowtie. He said later that his opponent would be like a flag – “red, black and blue and he’s going to see stars.”
Lou DiBella, CEO of DiBella Entertainment and co-promoter of Saturday’s fight card, said it’s going to be “bombs away” Saturday, a reference to Wilder’s nickname, the Bronze Bomber.
Bruno Event Team President and CEO Gene Hallman said the Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau estimates the fight card will have an economic impact of $3.1 million. He added that each of Wilder’s subsequent Birmingham fights has become more popular.
“We have already surpassed the ticket sales from the prior two fights,” Hallman said. “Ticket sales on the floor, for all intent and purposes, are sold out. We have less than 1,000 seats left at the $55 and $125 level.”
Upper-level seats are being sold for $20. Doors open Saturday at 3 p.m. and the first bout is at 4 p.m. The Fox broadcast airs at 7 p.m. and features the heavyweight title tilt, a Premier Boxing Champions event.
