Deontay Wilder is courting controversy for saying he wants to "get me a body" on his boxing record by killing an opponent.

Wilder, the World Boxing Council heavyweight champion, defends his belt against Dominic Breazeale on Saturday.

He previously said he hopes Breazeale makes "some funeral arrangement." On Wednesday, he said Breazeale's "life is on the line," adding that boxing is "the only sport where you can kill a man and get paid for it."

Wilder's comments mock the many tragedies that have occurred in boxing's name.

Muhammad Ali left the sport with Parkinson's disease, and numerous athletes have died because of injuries, while others have been left with permanent problems.

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Deontay Wilder says he wants to "get me a body" on his record and kill an opponent, making a mockery of those who have died or been permanently injured through boxing.

Wilder, the World Boxing Council heavyweight world champion, is one of the hardest punchers in the sport. Only two of his 41 opponents have lasted to hear the final bell, while others have fallen concussed onto the canvas.

On Saturday, he defends his belt against Dominic Breazeale, a 33-year-old who has won three in a row since suffering the only defeat of his professional career, to the unified heavyweight champion, Anthony Joshua, in 2016.

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Breazeale isn't likely to pose much of a threat to the unbeaten Wilder, and the champion even told the challenger earlier this year to "make some funeral arrangement."

On Wednesday, Wilder went one step further.

"His life is on the line for this fight, and I do mean his life," he said, according to The Telegraph.

"I am still trying to get me a body on my record. Dominic Breazeale asked for this. This is the only sport where you can kill a man and get paid for it at the same time. It's legal. So why not use my right to do so?"

Wilder's comments are certainly controversial, especially as boxing history is littered with the corpses of fighters who have died in the ring or shortly after competing.

One of the most famous fight clubs in Europe, the Peacock Gym in Canning Town, London, has a statue of Bradley Stone by its front door. In 1994, at 23, Stone was knocked out after four straight shots to the head in a fight. A doctor checked him, then Stone went to his girlfriend's house, where he collapsed. He later died.

Every time someone walks into the Peacock Gym, whether they are just looking for an irregular workout or happen to be an established name like Lennox Lewis, Stone's statue acts as a constant reminder to respect the sport and its combatants.

Stone's story is by no means an isolated incident. One of the reasons championship fights were reduced to 12 rounds from 15 was the frequency of tragedies in the later rounds.

Duk-koo Kim, a South Korean lightweight, died four days after his 14th-round knockout defeat by Ray Mancini in November 1982. Within a month, the WBC set a 12-round limit for title fights.

Other fighters have been left permanently injured. The three-time heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali left the sport with Parkinson's disease, while the former heavyweight contender Magomed Abdusalamov (pictured above) developed a blood clot in his brain, was placed in a medically induced coma, had a stroke, and now uses a wheelchair and has severely impaired motor skills because of inadequate care following his 10th-round loss to Mike Perez in 2013.

Wilder's comments mock the many tragedies that have occurred in boxing's name — tragedies that are thankfully few and far between in the modern era, but nonetheless still exist.