Lou Dibella: “The Wilder-Szpilka World Title Bout Might be the Biggest Crowd ever at Barclays Center”
Cooler heads prevailed at this afternoon’s final press conference in midtown Manhattan before the WBC world heavyweight championship bout Saturday evening between defending champion Deontay Wilder (35-0, 34 KOs) and Polish challenger Artur Szpilka (20-1, 15 KOs).
Just 24 hours prior, when the two colorful characters stood a few feet from one another at the site of the World Trade Center, tempers started to flair when Wilder was posing for the cameras and started yelling “Bomb Squad… And Still!” Szpilka yelled back “Going down!”
They continued jawing and came face to face until Szpilka came a little to close to the champion and Wilder shoved Szpilka away creating a skirmish and needed to be pulled away.
Today as both men sat on the dais, Lou Dibella made sure to point out to the assembled media that there were three hulking security guards on stage to keep the setting civil.
“He knows it’s not a good idea for him to fight outside the ring,” Szpilka said through his interpreter. Then in broken English managed to say on Saturday we will hear “And new…”
Wilder remained composed and took to the mic to let everyone know how much this opportunity means to him.
“I’m hungry,” Wilder said of this matchup with Szpilka. “On Saturday you will see a different Deontay Wilder. 2016 will be my year and as much as I am so proud to be the WBC champion, I want more. I want all the belts just like Lennox Lewis was the undisputed champion in 1999.”
Lewis was on hand and gave praise to both men and said this is a great time for boxing.
“The heavyweight division is wide open right now and it’s time for these guys who were waiting to step out into the forefront,” Lewis told the media.
In addition to the Wilder-Szpilka main event at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Showtime will kick off the telecast with another heavyweight championship bout between Charles Martin and Vyacheslav Glazkov for the vacant IBF belt which was let go by Tyson Fury.
This will be the first heavyweight championship bout in Brooklyn in 115 years.
“This might be the biggest crowd Barclays Center ever had for Boxing,” Dibella said. “They are opening up additional sections inside the arena.”
All photos by Stephanie Trapp/Showtime
