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Deontay Wilder, still stinging from his draw against Tyson Fury in December, was due for a mandatory defense of his WBC title. His challenger was the chirpy Dominic Breazeale, a fighter that had plainly gotten under the Bronze Bomber’s skin. Breazeale and Wilder don’t have promoter-beef; they’ve have a long-running string of honest-to-god, out-of-the-ring encounters and bad blood.
The war of words escalated in the run-up to Saturday’s main event at Barclay’s Center. Wilder, never short on a good quote, said:
“Hey, Dominic Breazeale asked for this,” Wilder told the assembled media.