Of course it did.
The spectators and promoters and media and participants of boxing prefer to avoid the uncomfortable truth at the heart of their sport.
They prefer to celebrate the courage and skill of boxers in a dangerous trade rather than dwell on the reality that sustained heavy blows to the head can cause lasting brain damage or worse.
Yes, it is revolting and disgusting and beyond contempt to hear Wilder say that he wishes to “get me a body on my record.”
In any other arena of life such a public comment would see him instantly outlawed, and his world title contest scheduled to take place overnight in New York cancelled.
Instead, the authorities prevaricated, as they always do in the fight game. The World Boxing Council said it would hold a hearing because the comments were “against the spirit of our sport.”
I hope they take into account everything that Wilder said, and not just his ambition for a death in the ring.
The heavyweight fighter also spoke some plain truths about boxing — and they should be heard loud and clear.
“This is the only sport where you can kill a man and get paid for it at the same time,” said Wilder. “It’s legal.
“So why not use my right to do so? This is a brutal sport. This is not a gentleman sport.
“We don’t ask to hit each other in the face, but we do anyway. And you can ask any doctor around the world and he will tell you that your head is not meant to be hit.”
Wilder is absolutely correct about that.
It is why the British Medical Association has long campaigned for boxing as a sport to be abolished — because by its very essence the aim is to render an opponent unconscious.
They are not alone in being convinced that has no place in a civilised society.
Other sports are waking up to the compelling issue of concussion caused during competition and training — and to the growing medical evidence that severe long-term brain damage can be the result.
They want to do everything they can to avoid such trauma.
Rugby union is changing its laws. Football is changing its protocols and investigating the dangers of heading and aerial collisions. They are now trying to invent helmets for bowlers as well as batsmen in cricket to limit risk.
The science is moving fast; the risks of suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) are becoming more widely recognised and understood.
Where does boxing go when bashing the opponent on the head is what you are actually trying to do, and when the death of the opponent is an ever-present danger?
Its answer, at heart, is to say that it’s a matter for free choice for boxers, that they accept the dangers involved.
Deontay Wilder certainly does. He accepts the risk to himself and takes the logic of boxing to its extreme by appearing to relish the prospect of causing the death of an opponent.
It is savage and brutal and, as Wilder says, it would be legal.
Everyone can make up their own mind about boxing. For myself, I long ago stopped watching fights on TV or listening on radio. There is nothing to celebrate in this sport.
I fail to see why the Olympic Games continue to feature boxing as one of its sports in the 21st Century when there are so many other alternatives.
When I hear anguished complaints that current heavyweights Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury and Wilder are avoiding each other, I can only think, how wise.
It means each of them is less at risk of sustaining long-term brain damage, and it seems to me that can only be a good thing.