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DOMINIC BREAZEALE says he will mentally break Deontay Wilder and ensure the WBC world heavyweight champion never wants to lace up boxing gloves again.

Breazeale, 33, challenges his fellow American today after an acrimonious and controversial build-up.

The pair were involved in a scuffle at a hotel in 2017 and Wilder has drawn fight-week scrutiny for comments about killing an opponent in the ring.

“I am Deontay Wilder’s retirement plan,” said Breazeale.

“I will beat him so bad that he is not going to want to ever lace up the gloves again. When I am done with him the mental aspect of boxing is going to be completely beaten out of him.

“This belt is everything to me, it’s my Super Bowl.”

BBC Sport will run a live-text commentary of the Barclays Centre bout from around 04:00 BST on Sunday morning, as Wilder, 33, looks to extend his record of 40 wins and a draw from 41 bouts.

BBC Radio 5 Live commentator Mike Costello said: “There’s a stat doing the rounds this week which says that in history – 135 years or so of the heavyweights – Wilder will be making his ninth defence of the world title. If he wins he will be only the 10th man to make that many consecutive defences at heavyweight. Some great names have not done it.

“On those nights, even if the man in the other corner is by some opinion underrated, you still have to get it right on the night all of those times, regardless of your personal life or what tweaks you may have had in training.”

Wilder will need to block out widespread criticism for his fight-week comments from the likes of Frank Bruno, Nigel Benn and the World Boxing Council, who have summoned him to a hearing for his comments on death in the boxing ring.

In a lively final news conference he stated his “blood is boiling”, while the fighters disagreed on exactly what happened when they were involved in an altercation in 2017, with Breazeale adamant he was punched by one of his rival’s team in front of his family.

“There are so many things I have said and I mean every word,” said Wilder. “This has been a long time coming to him. He asked for this and he shall receive.

“No one believes this guy, he doesn’t have enough bass in his voice. I have been in this game for a very long time and for someone like you to beat me, the closest you’ll get to this belt is in your dreams. You will feel it though, my actions speak louder than my words.

“When they get in the ring with me, it’s more than a boxing match. This is not a game. I’m not in this business to make friends.”

Breazeale’s only defeat of a 21-fight career came in a 2016 stoppage loss to unified world champion Anthony Joshua but the California fighter insists he has improved immeasurably since.

Wilder will compete for the first time since his enthralling draw with Tyson Fury in December and starts a a 1-10 favourite with bookmakers.

A win will undoubtedly lead to fresh demand for a lucrative meeting with Joshua, despite failed negotiations in the past.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live’s boxing podcast, former world super-middleweight champion George Groves said: “Breazeale may not be the toughest test Wilder has faced but he only has one loss on his record, so Wilder will have to stay switched on and put on a dominant performance.” — BBC Sport