AUDIO: Deontay Wilder Talks Washington KO, Possible Stiverne Rematch

A couple days after defending his WBC heavyweight belt for the fifth time against Gerald Washington, Tuscaloosa's Deontay Wilder joined Tide 102.9 to discuss the fight and talk about what lies ahead. 

Wilder (38-0, 37 KOs) appeared on The Game with Ryan Fowler on Monday afternoon and began with a look back at Saturday night's fifth-round KO in Birmingham. Critics said the champ started slow and looked a bit sluggish in his first bout since last summer.

"It's boxing. I don't care about being down," Wilder said. "When you have a game plan and a strategy, sometimes it takes a little sacrifice to gain something. And I sacrificed being down in the points to gain a little bit.

"I know he wasn't really doing any damage to me. It was just that if I don't throw punches and he's throwing punches, of course it's going to be obvious that he's winning. But as you can see, once I set him up and the first right hand I threw, I baptized him with it."

Wilder's camp, along with most boxing fans, would like to see the heavyweight belts unified, but the WBC has already ordered a rematch with the top contender, Bermane Stiverne.

"Now we see what I did to him the first time, and now he's about to get an opportunity a second time? If they order that, I have no choice but to fight him. And if I do fight him, I'm just going to say it like Mortal Kombat, 'finish him.' I will finish him."

While negotiations begin on the rematch, the question still remains about whether Wilder's hometown will get to see a championship bout. After three fights in Birmingham, it seems like Tuscaloosa might be a realistic location soon.

"This fight would have been in Tuscaloosa but the dates didn't match for the venue that we was trying to fight at. That just let's you know that everything is on the right path. Everybody's trying to come on the right page to make that so when we do have the fight in Tuscaloosa, it'll be just as successful as it is in Birmingham."

You can listen to the entire interview with Wilder in the video above.

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