Deontay Wilder
Wilder is already unbeaten in his first 39 professional fights. Getty Images

KEY POINTS

  • The Bronze Bomber wants to become second fighter to reach half a century of wins without defeat.
  • The WBC champion faces Luis Ortiz next month and is targeting Anthony Joshua.

Deontay Wilder has revealed his desire to emulate Floyd Mayweather by matching his 50-0 unbeaten fight record.

The current WBC heavyweight champion has won all 39 of his professional bouts, with 38 knock-outs.

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Victory over Luis Ortiz on 3 March in New York will allow the 32-year-old to extend that streak as he plots domination of boxing's blue-ribbon division.

Wilder is talking up a unification fight with the winner of Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker's clash in Cardiff next month, when the WBA, IBF and WBO belts will all be on the line.

But beyond that Wilder is eyeing Mayweather's landmark of half a century of wins without defeat which he achieved with success over Conor McGregor last August.

"Once I unify all the titles then line up the mandatories, I'll easily get to 50-0," he said according to Boxing Scene. "I'm not a 12-round fighter, and I don't get overtime. I'm a knockout artist. So that being said, I don't take much damage, but I give all the damage.

"I put people in the hospitals. I put people in stretchers. When you fight me your head is not the same when you leave. When you fight me you're really signing a death warrant.

"I don't focus on what these guys are doing. I don't focus on what their strengths are. I just focus on me. I focus on what I'm capable of doing. I focus on what I'm going to do and when I tell people I'm going to do something, you know I'm going to do it.

"At the end of the day that's what my father taught me. There weren't any contracts back in the day, it was just the shake of a hand. And if you said something and you didn't abide by it, there's consequences to your actions, to your words. To this day, I abide by that. So, if I say I'm going to do something it's guaranteed to be done."

Though Joshua still has to overcome Parker on 31 March, The Bronze Bomber has wasted little time in starting a war of words with the Olympic gold medallist.

The American claims he wanted to fight Joshua over two years ago and will not be silenced in his bid to meet Joshua, as a clash becomes increasingly inevitable.

"I want him just as bad as everybody else wants him," he added, according to the same source. "If it was up to me, we would've been fighting two years ago. I've been calling this man out. When they hyped him up and said he was this, said he was that. I'm the type of person that I get happy for other people. With me and my happiness and me being successful, that's all up to me. It ain't up to nobody else," Wilder said.

"So, when I see other people doing great things, when I see good things coming to other people, I get happy for other people. It's a hard thing for people to get happy for other people because things don't happen for them but I'm not like that because I know my blessings will sure enough come. All I got to do is keep working."