By Keith Idec

NEW YORK – Dominic Breazeale was so thankful, he mailed William Deets a few tokens of his appreciation.

Once Deets knocked out Marsellos Wilder on January 26, Breazeale sent Deets shirts, sweatpants and a hat that bear Breazeale’s nickname, “Trouble.” Breazeale wants to take out Deets for a steak dinner, too.

That’s how much Breazeale enjoyed the journeyman’s fourth-round, technical-knockout of Deontay Wilder’s younger brother. Breazeale’s beef with Marsellos Wilder stems from the melee Breazeale believes Marsellos Wilder incited two years ago in the lobby of a Birmingham hotel.

Breazeale detailed Tuesday how Marsellos Wilder punched him on the back of his head during that late-night skirmish in February 2017. Their argument began at ringside at nearby Legacy Arena, where Wilder stopped Gerald Washington and Breazeale beat Izu Ugonoh by TKO on the same FOX card.

Birmingham police broke up the ensuing brawl at The Westin Birmingham. No arrests were made related to that incident, which took place in front of Breazeale’s wife and two young children.

Breazeale later filed a lawsuit, which he acknowledged Tuesday is unlikely to result in him receiving monetary damages.

That’s another reason Breazeale was so thrilled when he learned Deets defeated Marsellos Wilder on the non-televised portion of the Keith Thurman-Josesito Lopez undercard at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Breazeale (20-1, 18 KOs) discussed that satisfaction Tuesday following a press conference to officially announce his May 18 fight against Deontay Wilder (40-0-1, 39 KOs) at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

“Oh man, I was so excited,” Breazeale told BoxingScene.com. “I was so excited that I sent ‘Trouble’ gear to his opponent’s home. I wanted to take him out to dinner, buy him a steak. For me, that was so bittersweet because, you know, karma, it happens. It’s gonna come full circle. For him to punch me in the back of the head, and me have to think about that on a daily basis, as a man, that’s degrading, right? And the fact, on top of that, is like you hit me in the back of the head – I don’t know if I punch you, well, she punches you in the back of the head, you go down, you probably stay down, right?

“I got back up to fight and I see this dude high-tailing it the hell out of here, right? So, I mean, if you’re gonna throw a punch, at least stick around and see, give me a shot to get a rebuttal, right? So, it was beautiful. It was beautiful that I got the news of that. I watch it and watch it. I walk into the game room of my house, and it’s highlighted. It just runs on a reel, him getting knocked out. It’s a beautiful thing.”

Marsellos Wilder bounced back from his loss to Deets (7-13, 3 KOs) by winning Saturday night in Arlington, Texas. The 29-year-old Wilder (4-1, 3 KOs), of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, scored a first-round TKO of Mark Sanchez (0-2) on the Errol Spence Jr.-Mikey Garcia undercard at AT&T Stadium.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.