‘I went there to shoot him’ – Deontay Wilder admits he originally intended to KILL the internet troll for abusing his daughter

DEONTAY WILDER admitted he originally planned to KILL the internet troll who abused his daughter online.

The former heavyweight champion traveled to a Los Angeles gym in 2014 to take on well-known troll Charlie Zelenoff.

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Zelenoff, who signed a legal waiver affirming he would not pursue a lawsuit for damages, had attacked Wilder’s daughter online.

And he was later beaten at the gym by the Bronze Bomber, who went on to win the WBC world title a year later.

Now, eight years later, Wilder, 36, opened up about the incident and revealed he would have shot Zelenoff had it not been for his cameraman.

He said on the Pivot podcast: “I really went there to kill him, to shoot him, to be honest.

“And the devil got into me at some point because we were in some alleys and my voice changed because he was with me, I brought him with me too.

“One day my whole damiana about myself changed, I was like, ‘Come down this alley.’

“I knew what to do, even because I’m going to tell you. My whole damiana, my face changed because I knew what my abilities were.

“But I knew I couldn’t do it because my cameraman was one of my good friends and I had a vision of him ratting on us and I should have shot him too.

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“I told him, I said, ‘I couldn’t do it because I would have had to shoot you too. Because I saw you betray us.’

“And he started, ‘Oh no, D.’ And I’m like, ‘No, I’m serious. I should have shot you too.'”

Zelenoff had made a name for himself attacking strangers in gyms before attempting to fight them, even with Floyd Mayweather’s father.

But Wilder claimed in a 2014 interview with The Ring Magazine that he only agreed to confront the troll after he was racially assaulted.

The American, who returns against Robert Helenius at the weekend, was in LA to watch a fight when he taught Zelenoff a lesson.

Wilder said: “I really wanted to do more than I did, but I’ve come to a point where I have opportunities and I’m blessed, man. I am aware of that.

I really went there to kill him, to be honest, to shoot him.

Deontay Wilder on confronting his internet troll

“But basically this guy, man, was harassing me and sending me offensive messages threatening me and going overboard.

But the only reason I went that far with it was because it went overboard. He threatened to murder me and called me the N-word.

“Then what overdid it is he said he was going to tape my daughter’s mouth with duck tape, and reading that made me imagine that’s actually happening.

“One way to get in touch with me is to talk about my children in this way. Then it’s personal and I’m a different guy.

“There’s a part of Deontay Wilder that’s the dumb guy, the humble guy, and the funny guy with a nice smile.

“But there’s another part of me that I really don’t want people to see. This is the part that will come and get you.

“But I really held back because my original plans were to really hurt this guy, man.

“Some people don’t really know that side of me, but I brought it out and I don’t like showing it to people.”

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