Deontay Wilder To Trigger Rematch Clause, Blames Walkout Costume For Defeat
Deontay Wilder plans on exercising his rematch clause against Tyson Fury.
Wilder lost his WBC heavyweight title after he suffered a seventh-round TKO defeat to the Briton this past weekend. The American was knocked down twice during the encounter before getting overwhelmed by Fury, leading to his corner throwing in the towel.
However, Wilder claims Fury never hurt him at all. Instead, he blamed his defeat on his walkout costume which was a tribute to Black History Month.
“He didn’t hurt me at all, but the simple fact is … that my uniform was way too heavy for me,” Wilder told Yahoo Sports. “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.
“I was only able to put it on [for the first time] the night before but I didn’t think it was going to be that heavy. It weighed 40, 40-some pounds with the helmet and all the batteries. I wanted my tribute to be great for Black History Month. I wanted it to be good and I guess I put that before anything.”
Wilder Not Happy With Coach For Throwing Towel
Wilder was also not pleased with the fact that coach Mark Breland threw in the towel. As a result, he won’t be retaining him as part of his team.
“I am upset with Mark for the simple fact that we’ve talked about this many times and it’s not emotional,” Wilder explained. “It is not an emotional thing, it’s a principal thing. We’ve talked about this situation many, many years before this even happened. I said as a warrior, as a champion, as a leader, as a ruler, I want to go out on my shield. If I’m talking about going in and killing a man, I respect the same way. I abide by the same principal of receiving.
“So I told my team to never, ever, no matter what it may look like, to never throw the towel in with me because I’m a special kind. I still had five rounds left. No matter what it looked like, I was still in the fight. … I understand he was looking out for me and trying to do what he felt was right, but this is my life and my career and he has to accept my wishes.”
Wilder also had words for referee Kenny Bayless who he claims warned him about many violations in the locker room only to allow Fury to do the same.
“The referee told me specifically that if I hit him in the back of the head or hit him on the break, he’d disqualify me,” Wilder said. “But I guess that was only directed toward me, because he allowed Fury to do those things. That’s the one thing that bothered me of everything.”
Fury seemed to have struck Wilder in the back of the head for his first knockdown. However, “The Gypsy King” was notably deducted a point in the fifth round for pushing and grabbing.
Regardless, Wilder will exercise his rematch clause and then head to Africa for vacation at the end of March.
Despite all his post-fight comments, he did reserve plenty of praise for Fury:
“I’m super happy for Tyson Fury and I really want to give him my complete congratulations,” Wilder added. “He’s had a lot of great accomplishments in his career and this is right there with all of them. I’m very excited about his career and what he has done. He deserves a lot of credit.”
What do you make of Wilder’s comments?
