Big picture

The last time these two teams met in this setting, things got a little rough. Even before Newlands, sandpaper and the inquisition that followed, there had been boorish behaviour on the field, boorish behaviour off it, a skirmish in a stairwell and Faf du Plessis intervening dressed only in a towel. In fact, that last one was family-friendly by the standards of Australia's 2017-18 tour of South Africa, the ripples of which were still observable during the most recent northern summer, when Steven Smith and David Warner made their comebacks in England.

Almost two years on, in the wake of various bans, reviews, leadership changes, coaching appointments and many, many discussions about "culture", Australia return to the scene of their DIY crimes. Well, not quite to Cape Town, yet, but back to the same Johannesburg hotel, as Smith noted earlier this week, where so much crisis management took place between the third and fourth Tests - and from where Smith, Warner and Cameron Bancroft set off for home, amid tears, recriminations and the sense of Australian cricket rapidly imploding.

And yet, ahead of three T20Is and three ODIs, it is the tourists who will walk into the Wanderers with a lighter tread. Smith and Justin Langer have spoken enthusiastically about being back in South Africa, having dealt with brickbats aplenty in England, while Aaron Finch leads a team that are unbeaten in T20Is stretching back to 2018, and reached a World Cup semi-final in between times. The Ashes remain in Australian hands, Smith and Warner have resumed their phenomenal run-scoring feats and their only defeats of the "home" summer came while away in India last month.

Contrast that with South Africa's 2019-20 season. Following the administrative turmoil that saw Graeme Smith, Mark Boucher, Jacques Kallis and several other former greats co-opted to the team's management, South Africa managed just one win in each of the three formats against England, losing Test and T20I series, and drawing the ODIs. Subsequently, du Plessis has stepped down from the captaincy, and planning for this year's T20 World Cup seems to hinge on whether AB de Villiers can be talked into a comeback. Throw in long-standing issues around finance and transformation, and it's hard not to become pessimistic.

That said, contests with Australia rarely fail to bring out South Africa's best. They will be buoyed by the return of Kagiso Rabada, who last played during the Port Elizabeth Test in January, and du Plessis has sidelined any lingering resentment about his treatment to bring his considerable experience as a T20 batsman. The T20Is against England were closely contested, featuring positive performances from Quinton de Kock, Temba Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen, Heinrich Klassen and Lungi Ngidi, while Dale Steyn will hope to find his groove ahead of a final World Cup tilt. If South Africa are underdogs, they still know how to bite.

And, starting at the Bullring, they will be roared on over the next 11 days by partisan crowds eager to see nothing more than Australia upended once again. T20Is can often seem lacking in context - but in a World Cup year, and beneath the long shadow of Cape Town 2018, this could be a series to savour.

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)

South Africa LLWWL
Australia WWWWW

In the spotlight

He has often been the man to step into the breach for South Africa, and du Plessis will not be letting his country down now, despite relinquishing the captaincy (or was he pushed?) seven months out from the T20 World Cup. He is vastly experienced in the shortest format, and should provide a shoulder for de Kock to lean on as he juggles leadership and keeping wicket, as well as adding class and nous with the bat. A miserable Test series against England saw du Plessis record a top-score of 36 in eight innings, but he has enjoyed T20 success this season, guiding unfancied Paarl Rocks to the Mzansi Super League title.

There's no doubting who the camera operators will be focusing on when Smith and Warner step back on to a South African playing field for the first time since Newlands. Both, however, seem ready to deal with the scrutiny. Smith enjoyed another stellar Ashes, ticked along at a fraction below his usual standards during the summer, and comes into this series off the back of an ODI hundred plus a walk-on role in Sydney Sixers' Big Bash triumph. Warner, meanwhile, put his torment at the hands of Stuart Broad behind him to ravenously rack up 1219 runs at 135.44, which included a maiden T20I hundred and his Test best of 335 not out. The Wanderers crowd will be hard pushed to throw either off his stride.

Team news

Bavuma will miss this match after picking up a hamstring strain against England, putting a pause on his prolific opening partnership with de Kock - as well as hurting South Africa's chances of hitting their transformation target. Du Plessis, without the burden of captaincy, will slot straight back in, which could mean Jon-Jon Smuts assuming a more familiar role as opener, while Rabada is in line to lead the attack alongside veteran campaigner Steyn. Anrich Nortje could also be involved, after sitting out both limited-overs series against England.

South Africa (possible): 1 Quinton de Kock (capt, wk), 2 Jon-Jon Smuts, 3 Faf du Plessis, 4 Rassie van der Dussen, 5 Heinrich Klaasen, 6 David Miller, 7 Andile Phehlukwayo, 8 Kagiso Rabada, 9 Dale Steyn, 10 Tabraiz Shamsi, 11 Lungi Ngidi/Anrich Nortje

Glenn Maxwell's comeback on this tour was derailed by elbow surgery, which leaves Australia a little light on middle-order options - his replacement in the squad is D'Arcy Short, who usually opens but like Maxwell can also provide a spin option. Warner and Finch seem locked in to start the innings, having been so successful during the home summer, so that leaves two from Short, Matthew Wade (whose last T20I was in 2016) and Mitchell Marsh (last T20I 2018) to fill out an otherwise settled line-up, with two frontline spinners and the pace of Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc.

Australia (possible): 1 David Warner, 2 Aaron Finch (capt), 3 Steven Smith, 4 Matt Wade/D'Arcy Short, 5 Mitchell Marsh, 6 Alex Carey (wk), 7 Ashton Agar, 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Adam Zampa, 11 Kane Richardson

Pitch and conditions

The pitch at the Wanderers for the pink ODI earlier this month was a little on the slow side, with some unexpected assistance for England's two spinners, Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid. That said, short boundaries and thin Highveld air usually combine for entertaining (read: batsman-friendly) encounters. The game is sold out, but the possibility of thundershowers could lead to interruptions.

Stats and trivia

• South Africa have only won three, and lost seven, of their last ten completed T20Is against Australia.

• Their last such meeting in Johannesburg saw Australia successfully chase 205 - although South Africa have won the other three encounters at the Wanderers.

• Australia have not lost more than three wickets in a completed T20I innings since February 2019, when they made 127 for 7 in Vizag at the start of their winning run.

Quotes

"It's great to have him back. He is excited, he still understands he has a big role to play for us. He is still seen as a leader amongst all of us. He is one of the senior-most members in the team and he brings a lot of experience and can help guide the younger players in the team. His knowledge will help us going forward."
Quinton de Kock on having his predecessor as captain, du Plessis, in the ranks

"Coming off the summer, I feel good and the boys feel good. The team knows their roles. It's very well defined. [Previously], the order was out and players didn't really know what their role was but at the moment it's very clear. Every person knows what their role is."
David Warner on Australia's T20 improvement

The short, sharp nature of the upcoming white-ball series between South Africa and Australia may rob the teams of the time required to recreate the drama of 2018, according to one of its chief protagonists, David Warner.

A little less than two years ago, when Australia toured South Africa for a four-Test series, Warner was involved in tense on- and off-field battles with the opposition and their fans, culminating in the ball-tampering scandal that saw him, Steven Smith and Cameron Bancroft hit with lengthy bans - but he doesn't expect anything similar this time.

"It's one-day cricket and Twenty20 cricket and you don't really have much time over the short period of the time to get underneath each other's skin or anything like that," Warner said. "And you don't go out there to do that. Obviously they [South Africa] had some heated exchanges with the English and that was during the Test matches. For us, our focus is moving forward and trying to get the wins on the board and send a message to everyone that the World Cup is in our backyard and we want to be a team to be beaten."

ALSO READ: 'Play along with the crowd and have fun' - Smith on SA return

South Africa's new white-ball captain, Quinton de Kock was not quite so sure of the same.

"If something ignites, maybe if a player decides to take on another player, then maybe the fierceness from both of teams will reignite again," de Kock said. "Who knows? Maybe not. Maybe we just play the game hard but not with you know…"

De Kock was the catalyst for the "you know" last time, when he said something to Warner as they walked off the field for tea during the Kingsmead Test. By then, de Kock had taken sustained abuse from Warner about everything from his appearance to his weight, in silence, until at the last moment, he lashed out. De Kock's comment was never fully made public but the Australian camp said it was personal and the South African crowd believed it had to do with Warner's wife, Candice, and a previous liaison.

As the matter snowballed, de Kock is understood to have wanted to seek out Candice Warner to personally apologise, but didn't get the chance.

Has he done so since, to either of the Warners? "We haven't really had any conversations. Me and him have moved on from there," de Kock said. "We look to just play cricket. We both love to play the game really hard. I don't think anything will happen. We will just carry on. We won't worry too much about it."

Warner expects an equally cordial relationship with de Kock. "I don't have his number and I speak to a few of the South African guys but I've never played in the same team as him or anything like that," Warner said. "Obviously it's a little bit different. I'm sure if I see him on the field and that we'll just treat each other how we normally would as respectful opponents."

Ultimately, respect is what Warner wants from all involved, chiefly the South African fans who were very much part of the 2018 fracas. Their taunting of Candice was condemned as sexist. Asked if he expects more of the same, Warner hoped that would not be the case and reminded spectators that they have responsibilities as well.

"For me, it's about you've got to have some form of respect as well," Warner said. "It was poor and from my behalf, it's about moving forward. If people want to go to the game and carry on like that, then it's upon themselves, and they've got to look at themselves in the mirror and if they want to act like that, so be it.

"It doesn't bother me but it shows at the end of the day. They're representing their country as well, they're spectators watching a game of cricket, I'm pretty sure you don't want to be walking away here with teams criticising the way that their fans are acting, it's up to them. We've got to come here and put our best foot forward and try and win the game."

So far, though, Warner's experience of being back in South Africa has been positive, despite the painful memories. "Obviously echoing Steve's words yesterday, about walking into first the airport and then walking into here, obviously the memories weren't great," he said. "But the last few days, every single person that we've come across that's asked for a photo, or that we've come into contact with or spoken to, have had nothing but great words to say and welcoming us to the country and being really, really polite.

"It's been incredible how much support we've had from people in the public. I just played golf and they went over and above to make us feel more welcome. It's actually a great feeling."

February 21: Australia v India, in Sydney Showground

Our XI: Smriti Mandhana, Alyssa Healy, Shafali Verma, Beth Mooney, Ashleigh Gardner, Ellyse Perry, Harmanpreet Kaur, Deepti Sharma, Megan Schutt, Jess Jonassen, Poonam Yadav

Captain: Beth Mooney

The left-handed batter strikes at 123 in the format. She has also been in outstanding form, in similar conditions as well, scoring three fifties in her last five T20I innings. It's a good punt to make her your captain.

Vice-captain: Smriti Mandhana

Another left-handed opener who is in great form. In the recently-concluded tri-series, Mandana was the top run-getter, scoring 216 runs at 136.70 and if India are chasing, you may consider swapping Mooney with her as the captain.

Hot Picks

Harmanpreet Kaur

It is difficult to leave out India's captain from a T20I fantasy XI. She is the only Indian woman to score a hundred in the format, and when she gets going, there are few batters who can strike the ball as well as her. Given her golden arm, her offspin might fetch you some points too.

Alyssa Healy

She may have had a lean tri-series but she is too experienced and talented a player to not turn things around come the big stage. Among those who have scored at least 1000 runs in the format, she has the highest strike rate (129.45). Don't forget, she can get you some points through her wicketkeeping as well.

Ellyse Perry

Perry, the No.1 allrounder in the format, is someone you cannot leave out of any XI. She is the second highest wicket-taker in T20Is and also the only pacer to have taken four or more wickets on four occasions.

Value Picks

Shafali Verma

The 16-year old scored a 28-ball 49 against Australia less than a couple of weeks back. In her short career so far, she has scored 324 runs at an average of almost 25, striking at 141. For the price, she is surely a value pick.

Jess Jonassen

Jonassen is a left-arm spinner with great control and pace variations. She is capable of tying one end up while the Australian quicks look for wickets from the other end. Her best bowling performance (5 for 12) in T20Is came just over a week ago against India.

Points to note

• Only three women's games have happened at this venue in the last three years and the chasing team has won all three.

• India's top three scored 59.5% of the total runs scored by the team in the recently-concluded tri-series.

• India average only 135 batting first in their last five games (when they have batted 20 overs). So if they are batting first you may want to consider replacing Verma with Meg Lanning.

Quetta Gladiators won the toss and chose to bowl v Islamabad United

Defending champions Quetta Gladiators decided to put Islamabad United in on a surface that appears to favour big runs.

Captain Sarfaraz Ahmed announced Jason Roy, Shane Watson, Ben Cutting and Fawad Ahmed were their four overseas players.

New Islamabad skipper Shadab Khan said the two-time champions would aim to put a target in excess of 180 on the board, promising to keep things simple and keep giving young players a chance. They will line up with Colin Munro, Luke Ronchi Dawid Malan, and Colin Ingram as their overseas players.

Quetta Gladiators: Jason Roy, Ahmed Shehzad, Shane Watson, Abdul Nasir, Sarfaraz Ahmed (capt &wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Ben Cutting, Azam Khan, Sohail Khan, Mohammad Hasnain, Fawad Ahmed

Islamabad United: Colin Munro, Luke Ronchi (wk) Hussain Talat, Asif Ali, Dawid Malan, Colin Ingram, Faheem Ashraf, Akif Javed, Shadab Khan, Amad Butt, Muhammad Musa

The ECB is in talks with the BCCI about agreeing the involvement of some of the India women's team in the inaugural edition of the Hundred later this year. However, the chances of India's men also being allowed to play in the tournament remain slim.

Players such as Harmanpreet Kaur, who will lead India at the forthcoming Women's T20 World Cup, and Smriti Mandhana have previously featured in England's T20 Kia Super League, which has now been disbanded to make way for the Hundred. Their presence in the 100-ball competition would be a boost for the ECB's new format, as well as raising its visibility around the world.

ESPNcricinfo understands that the ECB is currently engaged in discussions with the BCCI about allowing such a move. But while that may be seen as a way of preparing the ground for India's male stars to participate in future editions of the Hundred, BCCI officials have poured cold water on the idea.

ALSO READ: Expanded Hundred could help 'working class connection' - Harrison

A few India internationals, such as Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh, have expressed an interest in the Hundred, but the BCCI has long exercised tight control over granting permissions to play in limited-overs tournaments overseas. Virat Kohli, India's captain, even questioned the need to "experiment" with a new format.

The ECB last year conceded that India's men were unlikely to be involved from the outset. "I can't commit to the involvement of India players," Tom Harrison, the ECB's chief executive, said. "It's a political conversation as much as anything."

In December, the BCCI's top three administrators were in London to meet ECB counterparts. The BCCI team was led by former India captain Sourav Ganguly, who was elected as the Indian board's president last October. Ganguly was flanked by Jay Shah and Arun Dhumal, the BCCI secretary and treasurer respectively.

It is understood the BCCI was open to considering the ECB's request of looking into Indian women participating in the women's leg of the Hundred, but since then there has been no firm decision taken on that front. "We have had discussions on county cricket and women players might be allowed," a senior BCCI official told ESPNcricinfo.

As for the question of India men's cricketers participating in the Hundred, there has been no change in the BCCI's stance. It will not allow India men to participate in any overseas T20 or other similar leagues.

The BCCI official reiterated that by allowing the men to participate in overseas leagues, it would hurt the IPL, the biggest cash cow for the BCCI. In 2017, global sports broadcaster Star India bought the consolidated global rights for IPL for a record US$2.55 billion for a five-year period, the biggest deal in cricket.

The official also pointed out that with the Future Tours Programme planned in advance, players could be at risk of missing bilateral events, which is another stream of revenue the BCCI heavily relies on.

The first draft for the men's Hundred took place in October. Harbhajan was the only Indian player to put his name forward, but he subsequently withdrew after it was suggested he would have to retire from international competition - and potentially forego an IPL contract - if he wanted to be considered.

Just 60 miles east of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, one Little League director is sending a clear message to his 4,000 players about the Houston Astros and their sign stealing.

Jose Altuve? Alex Bregman? Carlos Correa? They're all out.

"Right now, in our leagues, the Astros are suspended," said Bob Bertoni, head of District 16/31 Little League.

Bertoni is recommending that no teams in the 23 leagues he oversees use the Astros team name this season after it was discovered Houston took a live camera feed to steal signs en route to a 2017 World Series title. He said a few teams used the name last year.

"I think about our Little League pledge; that's the first thing that comes to my mind. Part of the pledge is, 'I will play fair and strive to win,'" Bertoni said.

"Our kids emulate and idolize major league players," he added. "I don't think we as an organization should be idolizing teams that have decided not to play by the rules."

The Orange County Register reported last week that two Little League communities in Southern California banned the Astros name for the upcoming season -- a matter of ethics, but also a reflection of frustration after Houston beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2017 World Series. The Central Amherst Little League in Buffalo, New York, has also dropped the team name this year.

Commissioner Rob Manfred addressed the decision by the California leagues in an interview with ESPN's Karl Ravech on Sunday.

"For me, personally, one of the most troubling pieces of all this was the message that we sent to young people about the game," Manfred said. "I do believe that our game is special in that it teaches values to young people, whether they become baseball players or not, and when you hold that belief and you see what happened here, you have to accept the fact that this was a step backward for us, one that we're going to have to work really, really hard to correct."

Little League International, the Williamsport-based governing body for baseball and softball leagues around the world, said in a statement it won't restrict districts or leagues from barring the Astros name.

"Local Little League programs have long used Major League Baseball club names for their local teams," it said. "The volunteers operating those programs have the authority to name their teams, which often reflect the interests of their community and its baseball fans. This unfortunate situation has taught Little Leaguers an important lesson about playing by the rules.

"We value our relationship with Major League Baseball and its efforts to expand opportunities for youth baseball and softball, and the best thing that Little League International can do for MLB and the entire baseball community is to teach children how to play the sport by the rules and with a high level of sportsmanship."

Bertoni said his district, which covers all of Luzerne County in northwest Pennsylvania, was already considering outlawing the Astros name when he saw those headlines.

He doesn't think he will be the last district administrator to take such action, either. Little League heads from around the country are set to meet in Hartford, Connecticut, in two weeks, and Bertoni anticipates the Astros will be a top talking point.

"I think you'll see it on a larger scale," he said.

Bertoni said he is concerned that impressionable players might try to mimic parts of Houston's scheme, in which players watching the catcher's signals via a video feed near the dugout would bang on a trash can to relay to hitters whether the pitcher was throwing a fastball, breaking ball or changeup.

"That is the reason for the first initial step," Bertoni said. "If we did nothing, that opens the door to allow these kids to do that.

"We're going to educate our managers and coaches to say, 'Stealing signs, pounding on a trash can, that nonsense is not what you do when you play baseball or softball. Cheating should never come into play.'"

Bertoni said feedback from parents has been positive and that some communities couldn't buy Astros uniforms this year if they wanted. At least one supplier -- Athletic Image in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania -- told Bertoni his company won't be selling replica Astros hats or jerseys this season in protest.

"Is it crazy? Yes," Bertoni said. "But I think in today's world there has to be consequences for everybody's actions."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

EUGENE, Ore. -- Oregon junior forward Satou Sabally will forgo her final season of college eligibility and enter the WNBA draft, she announced Thursday.

Sabally is eligible for the draft, which will be held April 17, because she turns 22 during this calendar year.

"After this season, I'm going pro. I really want to fulfill my childhood dream and play in the WNBA and later on play professionally in Europe," Sabally told ESPN in an exclusive interview. "It was [a] very hard [decision], but it was also a decision that just came from the heart."

She also announced her intention to turn pro on social media Thursday.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- A 19-year-old former high school basketball player tries to walk on at the local community college when he learns his daughter will be born with spina bifida. She'll need multiple surgeries, just for starters. He drops out of school and gets a job at Red Lobster. Then IHOP. Then he walks into a local boxing gym, which itself is not easy to find in west-central Alabama.

He has no expectation of fame or fortune -- just quick cash as an opponent. He also has a 4 a.m. route delivering kegs for a local beer distributor. Doesn't matter. Still not enough money. It's not working out with his daughter's mother, either. He is heartbroken. He is ashamed of himself.

At one point, with a .40-caliber pistol on his lap, he considers suicide: "If I pick this gun up and blow my brains out, everything will be OK. All my problems would go away."

That's the devil talking. On his other shoulder, a profane angel: "'Man, you gonna go out like a b----? You can't do that. You got a little girl that needs you more than anything."

The angel wins.

He goes back to the gym, outside of which he often is seen in his truck, sleeping between his beer run and his workout.

The now-former basketball player and his trainer -- self-taught trainer, actually, as the guy gave up a promising career as a television reporter to learn the boxing game -- are habitually short on gas money. A particularly arduous sparring session in Atlanta leaves them with just enough for a post-workout meal. Cheetos and Mountain Dew for the coach. Gummy rings and lemonade for the fighter.

But along the way, the fighter finds something. It wasn't just a right hand -- more like a superpower.

Less than three years after he walked into the gym, at 22, he medals at the Beijing Olympics.

At 29, he wins the WBC heavyweight title.

Still, no one pays much attention.

If boxing people tend to diminish his skills, the general public remains steadfast in its obliviousness.

Meanwhile, he sees to it that his daughter has everything she ever needs.

Today, she is on the cheerleading squad.

He has seven other kids too.

And he keeps knocking people out -- in a manner never quite seen before. His right hand is likely the single-most destructive weapon in the history of boxing.

Still, America didn't really care about Deontay Wilder until he fought Tyson Fury.

And now that they're about to fight again, the time has come.

Attention must be paid.

IN DECEMBER 2014, the month before Wilder won the title he still holds, I did a piece for Showtime. At the conclusion of the interview, Wilder's daughter Naieya approached with cheerful insistence and asked, "Do you want to see me do a cartwheel?"

She was smaller than you'd expect a 9-year-old to be and walked with a pronounced hitch in her gait. We all looked at each other, the guys on the crew, pretty much thinking the same thing. But before any of us get out a "don't hurt yourself," she had climbed up into the ring, executed a near-perfect cartwheel and nailed the landing.

In 34 years as a newspaperman and broadcaster, it remains the most sublime victory I've ever witnessed -- not merely a surprise, but an altogether pure one. Naieya's father had more than a right hand; he had an even more precious commodity, a story. Deontay Wilder was worth cheering for.

In January 2016, we did another piece, walking down Times Square. Wilder had held the title for a year by then, but no one really knew who he was -- although I do recall a tourist asking if he was LeBron James.

Americans said they wanted a heavyweight champ. They wanted a knockout artist. But when he finally arrived on the scene, he was barely acknowledged.

Why? I asked Wilder when we met a few weeks ago.

"Race plays a huge part in it, you know?" he said.

Wilder wasn't venting about racism. It's not something he dwells on. Still, at some level, his point seems unassailable. If Wilder were white, it would be easy to imagine him as the face of IHOP or the beer he used to distribute.

That said, race didn't keep Mike Tyson or Evander Holyfield or George Foreman from entering the American consciousness. Unlike his predecessors, though, the promotion of Wilder always seemed to lack a sense of risk or imagination. You don't get over without a signature win. I get it: Gimmes, mandatories and stay-busy fights are part of the business. But Wilder lacked what his elite contemporaries -- Fury and Anthony Joshua -- received in beating Wladimir Klitschko.

The Fury fight changed all that.

It wasn't supposed to be that much of a fight. Fury was still feeling his way back from a suicidal depression and had just lost more than 100 pounds. If the historic draw frustrated the fighters, though, it also gave them what they needed. Epic fighters need epic antagonists.

Still, what held back Wilder more than anything -- more than race, lackluster promotion or the years spent waiting for a worthy opponent -- was the rise of a pervasive, if unmentioned, prejudice against the American heavyweight. In the not-so-distant past, of course, the notion of an American heavyweight champ was a redundancy. I mean, with rare exceptions, of course he was American.

So what happened?

He's catching passes, sacking quarterbacks or trying to break backboards. Say you're 6-foot-5 and 240 pounds with a decent 40-yard dash time or a good vertical. Do you want to live in a cushy athletic dorm and receive treatment in state-of-the-art facilities? Or would you prefer to apprentice in a room lit by the dim flicker of fluorescent bulbs, suffused with male stank, where it is all but certain that no one ever bothers to clean the spit buckets?

The typical American heavyweight has become a guy who already has failed, for whatever reason, as a ballplayer. Boxing was not his first sport. He has been recycled, and the public has long since caught on.

It takes more athletic prowess to be a fighter. Wilt Chamberlain might've loved talking about Muhammad Ali, but at least he had the good sense to stick to volleyball. Not so for Ed "Too Tall" Jones, Mark Gastineau, Kendall Gill. I can only assume it will be the same for former wide receiver Brandon Marshall.

Even the best of these recycled athletes -- real talents who dedicated themselves for years -- couldn't become champions. Michael Grant was a three-sport star back in Chicago, but Lennox Lewis took him out in two rounds. Dominic Breazeale, a 6-foot-7 former college quarterback, had two championship bouts. Breazeale lasted into the seventh against Joshua, but only 137 seconds against Wilder.

And that's the point: Wilder is different.

While generations of mere ballplayers have tried, he is the only one to become a champion.

Still, the presumption against American heavyweights persisted -- even in Wilder's own hometown.

"People who used to be haters, now they're fans. That's cool," said Chris Bates, Wilder's bodyguard and camp consigliere. "But there was a high percentage of people who would [say], 'Ah, he hasn't fought anybody.' ... And I'm like, 'How many people you know been to the Olympics?' ... This is Tuscaloosa. All they know is Alabama football. ... If he were from another country, he would be huge. But he's from here, so they're like, 'He can't be boxing.'"

For years, the conversation in boxing circles focused not on what Wilder had already done -- such as winning an Olympic medal in less than three years after first walking into a gym -- but on what he hadn't yet mastered. Yes, his feet aren't great. And yes, he gets wild. But even when flailing away, he could take you out. Recalling the Malik Scott fight in 2014, a first-round knockout from, of all things, a slapping left hook: The conversation that followed had less to do with Wilder than the baseless notion that Scott had taken a dive.

WHILE IT TOOK years for people to comprehend his actual power, it was there from the start, hiding in plain sight.

Three weeks after Wilder walked in off the street, he caught a journeyman pro with a right hand. The guy went down, first round. Another man would've been ashamed. But the journeyman had been around long enough to know exactly what hit him.

From his perch on the ring apron, Jay Deas -- who to this day remains Wilder's trainer -- saw the journeyman laugh as he struggled to his feet. "Whatever you do," he told Deas, "keep this guy."

Back in the day, Deas would spar with all the beginners himself. For Wilder, he wore headgear with a metal cage. Wilder broke the cage with a single right. Even an extra-thick body suit affords little protection, as Deas has suffered countless broken ribs and even a hernia from the body shots. After a mitt session, his elbows often swell up the size of grapefruits. Wilder's longtime assistant trainer -- Olympic gold medalist and former welterweight champion Mark Breland -- considers himself lucky that the worst thing Wilder left him with was a separated shoulder. Today, Wilder uses three mitt men for every workout.

At 6-7 and maybe 220 pounds, Wilder, 34, is longer and lighter than most heavyweights. What's more, his right defies one of boxing's most ancient conventions. From Jack Dempsey's "shovel hook" to Tyson's right uppercut, from Rocky Marciano's "Susie Q" to the clubbing right with which Foreman knocked out Michael Moorer, the most devastating blows were always thought to be the shortest, the most compact, the most brutally efficient. But Wilder's right hand unfurls like a whip, often camouflaged by a blinding jab.

While the power is natural, what's left in its wake is profoundly disturbing. Survey the images on YouTube, if you must: Breazeale; Luis Ortiz; Bermane Stiverne; Siarhei Liakhovich, a former heavyweight champ, his legs flailing about on the canvas like a fish on a dock; or the motionless body of Artur Szpilka.

"I thought I killed him," Wilder said, recalling Szpilka -- motionless, waiting for his chest to heave, to draw breath again.

It isn't an uncomfortable memory for Wilder; at least it doesn't seem that way. Truth is, even after all these years, the champion remains in awe of his own power. But like most unexplainable phenomena, the gift comes with a corresponding curse, not merely hubris, but a majesty corrupted with a whiff of something ugly.

"I want a body on my record," Wilder has said. He has said it a few times, actually.

Every knockout is a metaphor for death, but he wasn't speaking metaphorically. And it's a shame to think what began as a life-affirming quest -- to pay Naieya's medical bills -- ever came to this.

I ask if he has any regrets.

"I don't regret nothing I say," he says. "I mean what I say."

Last July, after a fighter named Maxim Dadashev died from wounds suffered in the ring, Wilder tweeted his authentically heartfelt condolences. He proclaimed Dadashev a champion, even though he hadn't won a belt. But how did Wilder reconcile his compassionate self, the guy who bestowed such honor on the fallen, with the guy who wanted a body?

Was this gamesmanship gone too far? Vanity or fear? And where was the profane angel now?

For the record, Wilder makes the distinction between his personas. There's Deontay from Tuscaloosa, and there's the bloodthirsty alter ego with which he steps into the ring. The guy who wants a body, he says, "That's the Bronze Bomber."

"Anybody can take it how they want," Wilder says. "Because at the end of the day, you're going to pay your money and you're going to come to try to see someone get knocked out. That's the whole anticipation of coming to a heavyweight fight."

"Especially this one," I concede.

He snorts a laugh. His own form of concession: "We risk our lives for others' entertainment. Because at the end of the day, somebody want to see somebody's brains get knocked out of their head. And how nasty that may seem or how cruel ... you're getting up to see it. So you're just as guilty as the ones saying it.

"For 12 years, I've been mesmerizing people off the knockout. If I go out there and just tap, tap, tap, I'd get booed out of the arena."

The people know.

"They know the guy who knocks people out, the one-hit man, the guy with devastating power, that God-given power. The suspense: What's gonna happen when the Bronze Bomber hits him?

"That's what everybody is waiting for."

And now more than ever.

It's worth mentioning that Fury, 31, has gone dark too.

"Cut the ears off and the nose," Fury said, "it wouldn't stop me from fighting. Take an eye out, I still fight on. I'm a fight-to-the-death man.

"I'd have been well-suited for gladiator days."

Wilder can identify with that.

"I like Tyson Fury, as a person," Wilder said. "So many guys, they're scared to talk."

I'm glad they have each other. Even if one of them has to go.

The media company owned by Lakers All-Star LeBron James is being sued by a Maryland youth group over its use of the "More Than An Athlete" phrase.

The suit, filed in federal court on Tuesday, also names ESPN, Nike and the maker of the NBA 2K video game for using the phrase in material produced by James. The group is seeking $33 million and injunctive relief.

Game Plan Inc., a youth development nonprofit, says it applied to trademark the phrase "I Am More Than An Athlete" in June 2016 and first used it on T-shirts at a Washington Wizards game on Oct. 8, 2017, when they played James' former team, the Cleveland Cavaliers. A group of players wearing the T-shirts had their photograph taken with Wizards star John Wall before the game, according to the complaint.

According to the complaint, Game Plan was awarded rights to the trademark "I Am More Than An Athlete" with a GP Game Plan logo on June 5, 2018.

James adopted the slogan in 2018, after Fox commentator Laura Ingraham said on Feb. 17 of that year that the NBA All-Star should "shut up and dribble" instead of talking politics. He uses it on Nike-produced clothing, an ESPN series he produces and a NBA 2K video game made by Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.

James' media company, Uninterrupted, dismissed the allegations in a statement, saying "The complaint filed by Game Plan today is meritless and contains numerous factual inaccuracies. Uninterrupted owns prior rights in and to the More Than An Athlete trademark."

ESPN had no comment.