Deontay Wilder blamed the weight of his ring-walk costume for his world heavyweight defeat to Tyson Fury on Saturday night — and said he will sack the co-trainer who threw in the towel.
The American was clattered to a seventh-round defeat after an inspired performance by Fury, but claimed he was hindered by the 40lb outfit he wore in tribute to Black History Month.
Wilder told Yahoo Sports: “He didn’t hurt me at all, but the simple fact is 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.
“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.”
Under the terms of their second meeting, Wilder is in a position to demand a third fight, which he has indicated he will do despite the conclusive nature of the Briton’s victory.
But he will not have former world champion Mark Breland in his corner after Breland was criticised for throwing in the towel during the seventh round, prompting the referee's intervention.
Wilder, who confirmed he would remove Breland from his team, added: “I am upset with Mark for the simple fact that we’ve talked about this many times and it’s not emotional.
“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.”
