Tuscaloosa native Deontay Wilder returns to the boxing ring tomorrow. The former world heavyweight champion will face fighter Robert Helenius Saturday night. If you can’t make it to Brooklyn for the match, the next best thing may right here in Tuscaloosa. The city unveiled a bronze statue of Wilder earlier this year at the local Sports and Tourism Commission office. Tuscaloosa artist Caleb O’Connor worked with the champ on the design. He says Wilder didn’t make too many changes…
“Uh, no…no. The only thing he wanted was when he changed his hair and he grew a beard, and I think that’s appropriate because that’s how he looks. But, that was it. That was the only thing,” said O’Connor.
Fans of the “Bronze Bomber” lined up on the day of the veiling to talk with Wilder or get a picture with him or his statue. O’Connor says the work of art’s right fist may have a similar fate to a famous statue of a wild boar in Florence, Italy…
“And it’s got a snout that’s just been rubbed through time, rubbed through time, people come by, they rub it, they polish it,” O’Connor recalls. “And what I think his right fist is going to be. And so, I think the significance is that through time, people will touch that fist, they’ll polish it, and they’ll all become part of the art in that sense.”
Deontay Wilder’s is known for his right fisted punch. The champ also gave APR his very first interview on his connection to the historic Old Prewitt Slave Cemetery. That’s in part two of our series “No Stone Unturned” Preserving Slave Cemeteries in Alabama, at apr.org.
