Wilder’s Trainers Disagree On Decision To Throw In Towel

Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images

Deontay Wilder was never the same after taking a punch to the ear in the second round from Tyson Fury in their rematch. Here’s more on that injury.

Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder 2 went down on Saturday night from the Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada and it was a wild ride that did not go the way many expected. There seemed to be two possible outcomes as far as most fans were concerned: Tyson Fury would jab his way to a decision win or Deontay Wilder would catch him with a big right and knock him out.

But while Fury did start things off with a strong jab in the first he quickly took the intensity up and swarmed Wilder, catching him with a punch to the ear in the third round that dropped Wilder and left the “Bronze Bomber” disoriented and on wobbly legs for the remaining rounds.

Wilder fought valiantly through the next four rounds but the fight ended in the 7th with his coaches throwing in the towel (watch the highlights here). When Wilder asked cornerman Mark Breland why he stopped the fight, Breland responded simply “Because of your ear.”

Wilder was taken to the hospital to have the ear looked at and another one of his trainers, Jay Deas, gave an update to the press on the situation later in the evening that downplayed the injury.

”He had a small cut inside the ear, it may have affected his equilibrium,” Deas said. “So he’s going to get a couple of stitches there, that’s really the extent of it. It was a tough, grueling fight with a tough, grueling fighter. So coming from two fights in a row – November and February where he loves to be active – this will give him some time to enjoy things, enjoy his family, rest up a little bit, I think that will be the next step.”

“Mark [Breland] threw in the towel. I don’t think he should have,” he said. “Deontay is the kind of guy who’s a go out on his shield kind of guy and he will tell you straight up: don’t throw the towel in … And then you always got to consider also that Deontay is a fearsome puncher. So that’s always a difficult thing because he does always have that shot to land a big shot and turn things around.”

Even though his fight game was clearly thrown off after the second round knockdown, Wilder didn’t seem like he was in any serious pain from the ear injury following the fight.

”I’m doing good,” Wilder said in the ring. “You know … things like this happen, the best man won tonight. But my trainers, my coach, my side threw in the towel. You know, I’m ready to go out on my shield, man. You know what I’m saying? I had a lot of things going on coming into this fight. But it is what it is. I was already, my leg was already wrecked coming in due to other little things. But you know, I make no excuses tonight. I just wish my corner had let me go out on my shield. That’s what I do. But he did what he did. There’s no excuses. And we come back stronger.”

”Even the greatest have lost and came back, you know what I’m saying?” he continued. “It’s just part of it. I can make no excuses tonight. I had a lot of complications. But we’ll come back stronger next time around. This is what big-time boxing is all about, the best must fight the best.”

Tyson Fury adds Wilder’s WBC heavyweight belt to his collection and takes a lead in their feud, earning a win after the two battled to a draw in their initial 2018 bout. There’s a very good chance we’ll see a third fight too … a rematch clause was included in the contract, and during the post-fight press conference Tyson Fury confirmed he was open to it, even if the result would be the same.

”Deontay Wilder, let me tell you, he never went down easy,” Fury said. “I’ve got a lump on the side of my temple here, I don’t know what’s happened with it. He hit me hard there. But I just had to overcome a lot in this thing tonight. And I always believed that if he couldn’t beat me when I wasn’t fifty percent the man I am today, he never had a chance tonight. Thank you very much for the opportunity and I can’t wait for the next fight, the rematch hopefully if he wants it.”