Deontay Wilder trolled after blaming Tyson Fury loss on his 'too heavy' ring-walk costume
25 February 2020, 12:49
Wilder says 40-pound entrance costume wore down legs before his fight against Fury.
Deontay Wilder has blamed his heavyweight title defeat against Tyson Fury on the three-stone costume he wore during his ring-walk before the fight, saying it was 'too heavy' and impacted his legs.
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The 34-year-old confirmed to ESPN that he will "definitely" exercise his right to another fight with Fury, 31, following the seventh-round defeat on Saturday (22 Feb), before attributing his first loss to the weight of his pre-show outfit.
"There were a lot of things that went wrong leading up to the fight, in the last minutes before the fight, but I accept full responsibility," Wilder said. "I paid a severe price because my legs were how they were because of my uniform. My uniform was way too heavy."
"It was 40-plus pounds. We had it on 10 or 15 minutes before we even walked out and then put the helmet on. That was extra weight, then the ring walk, then going up the stairs. It was like a real workout for my legs. When I took it off, I knew immediately that game has changed."
The former titleholder told Yahoo Sports that Fury "didn’t hurt me at all, but the simple fact is my uniform was way too heavy for me."
Wilder added that the costume, an elaborate suit of armour with a crown and mask, was intended to be a tribute to Black History Month. "I wanted it to be good and I guess I put that before anything," he said.
Fans took to Twitter in response to Wilder's claim; even YouTuber-turned-boxer Logan Paul questioned putting the blame of his "horrible performance" on his costume.
Wilders legs when he put on the costume pic.twitter.com/aRhIH4jBpj
— betclever (@bet_clever) February 24, 2020
bruh. deontay wilder is a beast. in fact, i thought he was going to win. but him blaming his horrible performance on the WEIGHT of his walk-out costume is the equivalent of me waking up and sneezing three times. cut the shit
— Logan Paul (@LoganPaul) February 25, 2020
When Deontay Wilder says he lost because of his costume. https://t.co/O3EguFU9hW
— Sir Bob (@SirBob1892) February 25, 2020
Deontay Wilder came out to a black empowerment song, got smacked silly by Tyson Fury, & is now blaming the loss on the costume he wore for Black History Month.... I cant accept this, I just can’t lol.
— Despa Robinson (@DespaRobinson) February 25, 2020
ok Deontay Wilder has lost me completely with that damn excuse . your costume made your legs weak...all that shit talking & performing & your COSTUME for a pro FIGHT made you get beat tf up .i was rooting for you pic.twitter.com/lNWJGoCToY
— 💜TaeTae💜 (@curlytae_tae) February 25, 2020
Meanwhile, Anthony Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn appeared to mock Wilder's 'heavy costume' excuse, saying, "To be fair now I found out he lost because his ring walk outfit was too heavy, I'm glad he's gonna get another chance."
Hearn recently told Sky Sports that a fight between Joshua and Fury "will happen" in the future.
