Unbeaten American heavyweight boxer Deontay Wilder has issued a threat to opponent Dominic Breazeale before their heavyweight clash in New York on Sunday (NZ time).
Wilder is aiming to defend his WBC championship belt and extend his unbeaten professional record to 41-0-1, after his controversial draw with Tyson Fury in his last outing.
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The 'Bronze Bomber' is known for his trash talk, but the 33-year-old took things to a new level, when he channeled his inner Ivan Drago from Rocky IV, saying; "If he dies, he dies."
In the movie, Drago (played by Dolph Lundgren) showed no remorse, after pummelling Apollo Creed to death in a Las Vegas showdown.
The warning to Breazeale is obvious.
"His life is on the line for this fight... and I do mean his life," Wilder told USA Today Sports.
"I'm still trying to get a body on my record. This is the only sport where you can kill a man and get paid for it at the same time.
"It’s legal. Why not use my right to do so?
"I didn't go seek him, he sought me, so if [death] comes, it comes. This is a brutal sport, this is not a gentleman's sport.
"I keep saying this is not a gentleman's sport. We don't ask to hit each other in the face, but we does anyway.
"You can ask any doctor around the world and he'll tell you the head isn't supposed to be hit. Anybody can go and in this particular time, we have bad blood against each other."
The rivals first tangled two years ago, when they got into a scuffle in a hotel, after fighting on the same card.
Wilder claimed that Breazeale made intimidating comments to his family, which sparked the melee.
Breazeale told CBS Sports that he was left "upset" by Wilder's comments.
"You never want to hear an individual - and I don't care what sport it is, but especially in the sport of boxing - who has the ability to put someone else in a bad state of mind or hurt them physically [talk like that]," he said.
"I don't think he understands what he's saying. He's just not all there, if that makes sense.
"Both he and I have knocked out individuals with shots where I am like, 'Oh God, I hope he is going to be OK from this'.
"But that's just my ring gentlemanship and having a care for life. Because of it, he is going to have to pay.
"He was going to pay anyways and I was going to have sportsmanship behind it, but now, when I put this beating on him, and I hurt him and punish him, I'm not going to shake this man's hand.
"I'm not going to tell people I feel sorry for him, if he's hurt. It is what it is and he has comeuppance coming his way."
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