Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images
Deontay Wilder has a pretty unique explanation for his stoppage loss to Tyson Fury.
The formerly undefeated Deontay Wilder was beaten pillar to post on Saturday night by Tyson Fury in a one-sided heavyweight title fight. Wilder’s loss had many wondering what happened – The Bronze Bomber seemed slow right from the opening bell, and he barely connected on any of his power shots. Today, Wilder offered an explanation to the media.
And it is somewhat bizarre.
Both Fury and Wilder had grand entrances to the ring, with Fury being carried in on a throne while wearing a crown and singing along to “Crazy”. Wilder’s was arguably even…well, wilder – a gigantic black metallic costume with a glowing mask that caused him to wipe his eyes for a few minutes after he took it off. Wilder explained to media the the costume actually cost him the fight (via Yahoo):
“My uniform was way too heavy for me. 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,” he added. “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.”
Lance Pugmire of The Athletic’s tweet is where the mention of actual “45 pounds” came from:
Full story coming to @TheAthleticBOX shortly: Deontay Wilder @BronzeBomber tells me he is definitely exercising his rematch clause for a summer trilogy against @Tyson_Fury, that his legs were weakened by his 45-pound costume he wore to the ring to honor Black History Month.
— Lance Pugmire (@pugboxing) February 24, 2020
As stated in the tweet, Wilder confirmed that he would be exercising his rematch clause for a third crack at Fury in the summer. He won’t get as much money this time around though – the rematch clause that was agreed to offered the winner of this fight a 60/40 split in the third fight, as opposed to the 50/50 split they had at Saturday’s event.