(Video Above: Deontay Wilder helps raise money to #KOSpinaBifida in honor of his daughter Naieya)
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Deontay “The Bronze Bomber” Wilder will defend his WBC Heavyweight title for the second time Saturday night on NBC, but the undefeated boxer recently revealed his career may have never been a reality at all if he and his daughter’s mother hadn’t chosen life.
Back in 2004 Wilder was a 19-year-old student at Shelton State Community College in Tuscaloosa, working toward being an athlete at his beloved University of Alabama, when he found out he would soon be a father.
“Now you find it ain’t all about you anymore,” Wilder told The Huffington Post
Then, Deontay and his daughter’s mother were confronted with a difficult decision—their baby girl had Spina Bifida, a spine condition which can cause paralysis.
“Everybody wish and hope and pray for a healthy child,” Wilder said. “In the end, [the doctor] also gave us the option, ‘You can terminate the pregnancy. You don’t have to worry about it and y’all can go back to your lives.’”
Abortion “was immediately out of the picture,” he revealed. “At this far along in the pregnancy, ain’t no need to terminate. She’s here. She’s developing. And when you get to that point, I believe let a life live,” he said. “I was willing to take all the challenges for this little girl to have a successful life and be happy.”
In March 2005 little Naieya was born.
Knowing he would need to provide enough income to pay for her surgeries and treatments, Wilder took jobs at IHOP and Red Lobster, and fatefully, began talking to his friends about getting into boxing.
“[My friend] thought it was a good idea because I handled myself well streetwise, although nothing good ever came of that,” the 6’7″ heavy hitter quipped.
So he headed to Skyy Boxing, a local training gym.
“When I walked into those doors, it was like a hallelujah moment,” Wilder reminisced. “The angels and everything… Guys hollering. When they throw punches, the breathing, the sparring. The heavy bags being hit. All of that — it was a heavenly sound to me… I felt I was at the right moment at the right time in my life, and I knew this was my last opportunity to be a famous athlete and to provide for my daughter.”
Just three years later the then-unknown Bronze Bomber was competing in the Olympics in Beijing, despite having the least amount of experience of any of the 386 boxers in competition. He walked away with a bronze medal, and a promising opportunity to make a career out of the sport.
In 2009 Wilder married Jessica Scales Wilder, with whom he has three additional children, but it was to his daughter Naieya he made the promise of a world championship.
“I just said, ‘Baby, it’s going to be OK and Daddy’s doing this,'” he said. “‘Daddy’s going to be a world champion one day.’ But she didn’t understand, she was just looking, playing with the gloves. She wasn’t even paying attention to me. But I meant it. I meant every word.”
Today Naieya is the walking, jumping, smiling, and playing daughter of a heavyweight champion, all because her mom and dad chose life.
On Saturday, September 26th, Wilder will take on France’s Johann Duhaupas in a bout televised nationally on NBC at 7:30PM Central. Tickets for the title defense are available on TicketMaster.
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— Elizabeth BeShears (@LizEBeesh) January 21, 2015
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