Deontay Wilder infamously sparred with an internet troll in 2014, Charlie Zelenoff was in LA with Wilder flying out to show him up for his inexcusable actions on social media towards himself and his family.
He has been one of the best heavyweights in the world of boxing for a while now, culminating in a trilogy with Britain’s best, Tyson Fury.
The pair controversially drew their first bout, with Wilder managing to down Fury who looked gone. He managed to miraculously come back and draw the fight.
After then, it was much more straight forward for the Gypsy King who won the remaining two fights in the trilogy via technical knockout to settle the scores.
The Bronze Bomber hasn’t taken to the ring since his defeats to Fury, but that doesn’t stop him still being a big name in the sport.
A video clip from 2014 has been doing the rounds on Twitter, going viral after being shared by Michael Benson recently.
Tyson Fury scored back-to-back knockout victories over Deontay Wilder last year
An internet troll, Charlie Zelenoff had been reported to have used racially abusive language towards Wilder as well as threatening his daughter, with The Bronze Bomber understandably fuming with his comments.
Most sports stars just ignore trolls, whilst others decide to interact with them on Twitter and try to show them up in response, but not Wilder.
Back in 2014, he travelled out to Los Angeles to confront Zelenoff and teach him a lesson for abusing him on Twitter in a way that is simply unacceptable.
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - OCTOBER 08: Deontay Wilder poses on the scale during his official weigh-in at MGM Grand Garden Arena on October 8, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada.Wilder will challenge WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury for his title on October 9 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
Using racial slurs and threatening the family of anyone is just abhorrent and has no place in society, so Wilder took things into his own hands, literally.
Wilder sparred with the troll for a couple of minutes, putting him on the floor a number of times, you can see the anger in Wilder who wanted to defend himself and his family.
He had initially tried to apologise, with Wilder not accepting and making him carry on their session. He really wanted to show Zelenoff who was in charge and make him pay by embarrassing him for his comments.
We all know the wonders of social media and how good it can be for all of us to connect and share content with our friends.
However, this is a reminder of the dangers of social media, Zelenoff’s actions are a huge drawback to the technology and a reminder to be careful on the platform whilst we try to eradicate such awful behaviour.