Sports

It was way too heavy for me, Wilder blames entrance costume for loss to Fury

Published

February 25, 2020

Deontay Wilder has blamed Saturday’s defeat to Tyson Fury on his ring-walk costume and has also confirmed that a third world heavyweight title fight with Tyson Fury “is definitely going to happen”.

Wilder was dominated by Fury from the first round at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, eventually losing the first fight of his career in round seven after the American’s assistant trainer, Mark Breland, threw in the towel.

Breland’s decision has not gone down well with Wilder, who was knocked down twice by Fury, and the American is now considering removing him from his corner ahead of the third fight.

“The rematch is definitely going to happen,” Wilder told The Athletic. “We’re going to get it on. I want to get right back to it.”

The previously undefeated American entered the ring in Las Vegas wearing a 40-pound outfit designed to celebrate Black History Month.

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Wilder was knocked down by a right hand from Fury in the third round and again by a body shot in the fifth.

The 34-year-old also fell another two times and appeared to struggle with his balance.

“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.

“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.”