Stephen A. Smith Reacts To Deontay Wilder's 'Embarrassing' Costume Excuse

ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith thought Deontay Wilder’s excuse for losing to Tyson Fury was embarrassing.

Wilder lost his WBC heavyweight title to Fury this past weekend after suffering two knockdowns en route to a seventh-round TKO finish after his corner threw in the towel. After the fight, Wilder claimed his walkout costume — a tribute for Black History Month — was too heavy and contributed to his defeat:

“He didn’t hurt me at all, but the simple fact is … that my uniform was way too heavy for me,” Wilder said. “I didn’t have no legs from the beginning of the fight. In the third round, my legs were just shot all the way through. But I’m a warrior and people know that I’m a warrior. It could easily be told that I didn’t have legs or anything. A lot of people were telling me, ‘It looked like something was wrong with you.’ Something was, but when you’re in the ring, you have to bluff a lot of things. I tried my best to do so. I knew I didn’t have the legs because of my uniform.”

Wilder’s comments drew ridicule from many in the combat sport world and although Smith has great respect for him, he could only unload on “The Bronze Bomber” for his excuse:

“This might be the most embarrassing excuse that I’ve ever heard for a guy losing the fight,” Smith said on First Take. “I am not questioning its validity, Max. I’m not saying that it may not be true. I’m not questioning it, he’s an honorable dude, I will take him at his word but my god, this is just not something you publicize. The outfit that you wore to the ring, wearing over 40 pounds is why you think you lost this fight? What the hell you wear it to the ring for? According to the reports, you tried it on the night before. You knew how much it weighed at that particular point and time. Why would you do that? … That [costume] ain’t what wins you fights. If you’re going to wear something, wear the same thing you always wore as opposed to something this different. Experimenting in the biggest fight of your career.”

Smith also took issue with Wilder blaming coach Mark Breland for throwing in the towel rather than letting him go out on his shield. It has reportedly been confirmed since that Breland won’t be part of his team going forward.

But for Smith, the fight could have been stopped even earlier:

“… He just got beat up. I give him credit. I thought his legs were gone in the first round,” Smith added. ” … He just looked out of it, no question. But to publicize this excuse is nothing short of embarrassing.

“And then we’re hearing you want to get rid of Mark Breland? … Deontay Wilder, I don’t know if anybody’s told you this. I thought the fight should have been stopped two rounds earlier. I thought they could have stopped it in the fifth, I thought they could have stopped it in the sixth. I thought Mark Breland waited too long [to throw the towel].”