Deontay Wilder hits back at Oscar De La Hoya for calling him an “underachiever”

Deontay Wilder is best known for his incredible power in the boxing ring, with many considering him to be one of the best power punchers in the history of the sport. That ability took him all the way to the top, to the point where he became the heavyweight champion of the world.

Now, at the age of 40, ‘The Bronze Bomber’ is looking to reinvent himself with rumours swirling regarding him potentially taking on Oleksandr Usyk. Regardless of whether or not that happens, though, his reputation in boxing has been secured.

One thing that did crop up recently, however, was legendary boxer and promoter Oscar De La Hoya naming him one of the biggest underachievers he’s seen in boxing.

In a recent interview with AceOdds.com, Wilder gave a lengthy response to De La Hoya.

Wilder questions De La Hoya

“That's crazy. Now you look at this situation right here you got a guy and I wanna see what's, you know, maybe his definition of an underachiever is different from ours. Or our view of looking at what has transpired throughout my lifetime of being a fighter.

“I just got into boxing. Started officially at 21 years, 21 years old now. People already wrote me off. They already said, oh, he's too late. It's too late of a boxer. You gotta be younger than that. You know what I mean? They already wrote me off. So went on in, I beat everybody. I knocked every motherfucker out, everybody stepped in.”

“I went to regionals. Went to the Olympic trials. I went to, you know, all those different things and was knocking guys out and became an Olympian. Now I made the Olympics team in a year and a half, and medaled I was the least experienced guy there. Made the Olympics team and turned professional.”

“Eight years later, I became a champion. A champion that has one of the highest knockout ratios in boxing history, and still to this day, holds the highest knockout ratio in boxing history. Do you understand me? And still one of the most talked about heavyweights. Now where in those lines of my journey, where I underachieved. In a situation where the odds were against me. I didn't have any resources and I didn't have anything.”

When talking about odds being against someone, it’s hard not to let your mind drift to this week’s clash between Jake Paul and Anthony Joshua. We also spoke to Wilder about that fight, which we’ll link to at the end of this piece, and he was sceptical as to whether or not the two had made any agreement pre-fight regarding how it would end.

Jake Paul, understandably, is priced as a 6/1 underdog to pick up the win. If you fancy backing him to do that, you can use our free bet calculator to see how much you could stand to earn.

The relationship breakdown

Wilder was part of the Golden Boy family for years, and when discussing his time there, Deontay made his feelings on his tenure quite clear.

“I'm the rose that came out of the concrete and I'm, I'm an underachiever?! Nah brother. You got your lines mixed up, but I understand though. I understand what the situation is. He went all the way back. He went all the way back between 2015. When I won the title, I left Golden Boy.”

“I was with you for eight years and y'all promoted me. I had, we had to borrow money from Golden Boy to even put on shows because I wasn't getting promoted. I was sitting back waiting on calls for fights and shit like that while all these other fighters are getting calls. I knew I was better than them. I knew I was better than a lot of the heavyweights. Then when it was time for me to fight, they'll gimme the leftovers and shit like that when I'm the motherfucking man out of the fucking whole tribe.”

“We had to borrow money just for us to fight because my coach had his own promotion company at the time. He was doing promotion. So we would borrow money for Golden Boy to put on our show. We'll put our show on, then we'll get the money right back. You know, they'd be like, man, we ain't never had nobody borrow money from us and give it right back like that.”

“We wanted to fight. We were ready to keep it going while these guys, while I had to wait on them. Who knows when I was gonna fight. So if it wasn't for us doing our own thing, I would've never got to where I got to at the time that I got to. So Oscar, the only time he ever really just announced me or tried to promote me is when I was getting ready to fight for the title. Now, if I would've been under someone as they controlled me and stuff like that, then no telling where I would be. Then I would really be an underachiever. Yeah. But. Thanks to us, Oscar.”

Wilder shows defiance

In his closing statement, Wilder noted that he is far from done in heavyweight boxing as he looks ahead to his next fight.

“I'm an overachiever, but I ain't done yet. I'm still going, motherfucker, because I got a statue as well. I don't think he got a statue. Does he have a statue? Underachiever. Get outta here.

Whatever they feel about me or about certain things that happen, I made my family better off. And I never regret betting on myself. You can never go wrong. You can never get discouraged and you can never, never feel bad about betting on yourself.”

“So I advise anybody that can bet on themselves, go for it. Don't let nobody control you. You control your own destiny in your own life, in Jesus' name. Amen.”

Read more as Deontay Wilder gives his honest thoughts on Jake Paul vs Anthony Joshua