Amir Mansour: “Deontay Wilder cannot take my power, I will crush him and he knows it!”

Heavyweight contender, Amir Mansour, recently turned 45 years old but he is still waiting for his first world title shot. Mansour has seen himself ranked highly over the years but has not seen that translate into a shot at a belt and he has seen lower level boxers getting an opportunity before one for himself. Mansour is coming off an impressive victory over ranked contender Travis Kauffman and hopes to see a big fight come for him next.

In this special interview from “On The Ropes” boxing radio, I speak to Mansour and discuss with him his position at the weight and talk to him about what fights could be next. Mansour also talks about the other top heavyweights in the division and speaks on a potential Wilder-Joshua bout. Additionally, Amir speaks on when he will return to the ring and gives his prediction for Wilder vs. Mansour. Here is what Amir Mansour had to say.

Jenna J: You last fought in March, you beat Travis Kauffman and looked impressive. What has been happening since then?

Amir Mansour: Well since then Deontay Wilder has been running like the chicken he is. He was dead set on upsetting me or defeating me in his hometown, and the fight was basically made but the minute I win, now Deontay is missing in action. He’s trying to go fight another nobody and that’s very disappointing.

A lot of people asked me when I lost to Breazeale, “If you had beaten Breazeale, do you think you would have gotten the Joshua fight?” In a perfect world, yes, because I would deserve the same opportunity that Breazeale earned, but here you have it, these dudes are ducking me. It’s ridiculous.

Jenna J: What do you think it is about yourself that the other heavyweights are avoiding?

Amir Mansour: Sometimes they tell you that you’re too good for your own good, and that’s what I think it is. I think I represent too big of a challenge to these guys and they don’t want to lose their titles. They learned a little bit from Klitschko on how to babysit and hold on to a title for a whole lot of years. I believe that Deontay took that blueprint and is running with it, and that’s why you keep seeing Deontay fight guys that you don’t really know.

Wilder’s hardest challenge was Gerald Washington and if you ask me, he was losing that fight when he stopped him and he’s never been down on the scorecards before. We all know that I got a draw when I faced Gerald Washington but if you’re an honest boxing fan, you know that I beat him hands down.

Jenna J: A lot of people have criticized Wilder for his opposition since he took the title from Bermane Stiverne. Do you think he’s just waiting for a big fight?

Amir Mansour: If he was looking for a big fight, him and Joshua would be set to fight, lets be realistic. If Wilder wanted to fight Joshua and Joshua wanted to fight Wilder, the fight would be made. They can make little passes at each other and say they want to do this and that but they both know if they want to fight each other, the fight could be made. These guys aren’t looking for the big fight.

Joshua fought Klitschko because he didn’t have a choice — and an on his way out the door Klitschko who almost stopped him. I don’t take anything away from Anthony Joshua, I don’t take anything away from Deontay, but they have to step up and they have to defend this title against reputable opponents. What Klitshcko was able to do, he was successful at doing it, but he dumbed down the heavyweight division.

Jenna J: When do you see yourself getting back into the ring?

Amir Mansour: I really don’t know. I cruise and stay in the gym, I stay in decent shape. I don’t want to fight anybody on their way up, you’re not going to use me as a rubber stamp to approve an up and coming fighter. I feel as though I’ve made my bones and put my work in, so I don’t want to fight anybody unless they are top ten heavyweight in the world. I don’t want to fight anyone who hasn’t put that work in yet.

If you do see me fighting in the near future, hopefully it will be against somebody in the top ten because it’s either put up or shut up with me and either you got it or you don’t. That’s why all my fights are always tough competition, you don’t see me fighting bums. You don’t see me with the tune up tomato cans, I always want to go after a big name.

Jenna J: If you do get that fight you want with Deontay Wilder, what happens in the ring?

Amir Mansour: It doesn’t go the distance. I’ll stop Deontay, I’ll stop him. His feet are too slow and he cannot take my power, I will crush him and he knows it, that’ why the guy ducks me. They called me last December to fight Deontay and I said yes, but when that joker found out he was going to fight me, he went and paid Szpilka $400,000 extra dollars to fight him instead of me. He’s scared of me. I just want big fights, I don’t want any tomato cans, I don’t want to be looked at as a fighter who fought the easy way out. I want to be looked at as a fighter who fought anyone who they put in front of him.