Deontay Wilder talks about the difficulties of selling a PPV fight and what it takes to get the job done.

It will be Deontay Wilder’s (40-0,39 KOs) first PPV headline fight when he defends his WBC heavyweight title against Tyson Fury (27-0,19 KOs) at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Dec. 1st. He became the first American heavyweight champion in eight years when he defeated Bermane Stiverne for the title in January 2015 by unanimous decision.

Before Wilder, the last American heavyweight to hold a title was Shannon Briggs in 2007. You’d even have to go back to the days of Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson during the 90’s to think about the last time there was an American heavyweight PPV star. Wilder feels ok with the pressure of carrying the torch left behind by his fellow countrymen, but says it takes a lot to sell a PPV fight.

“Yea, I feel ok with it man,” said Wilder. “Pay-per-view is stressful man, it’s a lot of work; know I mean? It’s a lot of extra work, you know? I know it’s good to be on pay-per-view and try to make a little extra money, or whatever. But s–t, if you ain’t no worker, if you’re not disciplined enough to be able to handle this man; you know that shouldn’t be your goal to lean towards this.”

The champ says it takes a lot of participation and patience, especially when dealing with people. This does turn out to be the case, given the traveling and press conferences that fighters need to take part of leading up to the fight. They also need to constantly answer questions from the media.

“Dealing with people is something that I’m very used to and something that I do well,” said Wilder. “Cause I’m a people person. I love everyone, no matter where you’re from. I could talk to anyone, even someone homeless on the street. S–t if the conversation let, I’ll be out there a whole hour talking to them. For me it ain’t about who you are what your titles represent. If you take away this title from me, all my accomplishments and what I’ve done; I’m just Deontay Wilder.”