By Kenneth Friedman: Eddie Hearn has come to the defense of former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder’s trainer Mark Breland, who some believe has become the scapegoat for his loss to Tyson Fury last Saturday night.
Breland threw in the towel to save Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) when he was taking a shellacking from Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) in round 7 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Wilder is unhappy with Breland stopping the fight, as he says he wanted to go out on his shield. Breland’s future status with Wilder is unknown.
Deontay not saying whether Breland will remain part of the team
Wilder’s decision to air his dirty laundry by openly talking about Breland has been criticized by many boxing fans. Hearn doesn’t like it, as he feels Wilder isn’t showing loyalty.
“For Mark to do it, I was very heartbroken,” Wilder said to ESPN.com about Breland. “We haven’t decided yet. No matter what the decision is, I love Mark. The whole team loves Mark dearly. He’s been with me from the start.
Sometimes fighters need to make a trainer change, but it would look strange for Breland to be fired after he saved Wilder from getting hurt by Fury.
Breland did the right thing in stopping it
“Even worse, how can you turn around and say, ‘Well, what it was actually if it wasn’t the outfit, Mark Breland is friends with one of Sugar Hill’s friends, and that’s why he threw the towel in,” said Hearn to IFL TV. “When you’ve got a guy like Mark Breland, who was a brilliant fighter. It’s all well Wilder saying, ‘I told these guys to leave me in there. I’d rather die’ or something like that, but he [Deontay] wasn’t doing anything.
“If you’re having a go, and get knocked out, that’s [one thing], but if you’re just hanging on for survival,” said Eddie on Deontay Wilder’s final moments before the fight was stopped. “Did you see his [Wilder] body language as he walked back to his corner? He had his head in the towel. He was away with the fairies.
“And he didn’t know where he was. He was brave to stay in there, Eddie said on Wilder. “I think he was still surviving. But don’t come out and say your gown outfit was too heavy, and Mark Breland threw the towel in because he knows the other bloke’s trainer. Who is in charge of his PR?
“Wilder got battered every second of the fight, do you know what I mean? Just hold your hands up and say, ‘I got beat by the better man. I’m going to go away, I’m going to work and improve, and then I’m going to come back and win back my belts,” said Hearn on Wider.
Deontay didn’t say anything about him suspecting Breland stopped the fight because he was friends with Sugar Hill. It’s unclear where Hearn got that information.
Hearn thinks Wilder should be loyal to Breland
“I couldn’t believe it. I saw Jay Deas say about the ring-walk suit after the fight, I thought he was bantering,” said Hearn on Deas making excuses for Wilder at the post-fight news conference. “Then when Wilder said it, I said, ‘No, don’t do it.’ That’s going to cause him major problems because you can’t say that. They have to,” said Hearn when told that Wilder might part ways with Breland.
“I know there’s a lot of money involved, but if someone said that about you, ‘that you threw the towel in because your mate is with the other bloke’s mate, who is Sugar Hill.’ You’re a team. You back each other. It’s called loyalty. Mark Breland has been with Deontay Wilder throughout his whole career. He’s not going to throw a towel in so a fight can end so that Tyson Fury can win.
“He’s throwing a towel in for compassion to protect his fighter. Mark Breland should be applauded for that. Wilder is so lucky he didn’t get hurt in that fight. He was there to get hurt badly in that fight, and he actually ended up. But he could have been badly hurt in that fight. I felt that they should have pulled him out a round or two before because he didn’t look like he wanted to be there,” said Hearn in saying that Breland could have pulled Wilder out earlier.
It looked like Breland wanted to save Wilder in the 7th when he threw in the towel because he was getting beaten up.
The time for Wilder to have made changes to his training team was years ago, and not now. Boxing fans have been saying for years that Wilder needs an entirely new training team because they felt that he wasn’t improving.
Wilder had no chance of winning against Fury
“He couldn’t win the fight from there,” said Hearn. And he [Wilder] wasn’t even throwing punches. He wasn’t even trying to knock Fury out. He was gone. I’ve never met Mark Breland in my life. Congratulations, you did the right thing, my friend. What Deontay should say, ‘Thank you, Mark Breland. You have my best interest in heart.
“Wilder is technically extremely limited but punches f— hard, and is one of the most dangerous heavyweights out there. Technically, he was absolutely awful on Saturday night, partly because that’s what he is, and partly because Fury’s game plan was brilliant. He made him capitulate.
“He made him wilt, he wore him down, he hurt him and broke him down mentally and physically. But Wilder is limited as a fighter, but he’s very dangerous,” said Hearn on Fury battering Wilder.
Wilder fought well enough in the first two rounds to have had a chance to win, but he couldn’t sustain the pace after the 2nd round. Fury stepped on the gas and knocked Wilder down twice. It was no longer a fun fight to watch after Fury began to rout Wilder, who wasn’t throwing anything back. Deontay looked tired, hurt and defeated.
Wilder’s costume excuse was “ridiculous,” says Hearn
“You get this made on the night. What you haven’t tried it on to see how it feels?” said Hearn IFL TV about Wilder’s 40-lb costume. “Take it off, my legs are like jelly. Have you heard anything so ridiculous? I’m sure it was heavy, but the walk is like 100 yards or something like that.
“But how can you get an outfit that’s heavy? It’s the biggest fight of your career. Basically, you’re saying that you didn’t win the career-defining fight, the legacy moment in your history is because you had a gown that was too heavy. AMATEURS,” Hearn said in labeling Wilder an amateur.
It would have been a good idea for Wilder to stay silent about his leg problems, and just take the loss without excuses. By revealing his problems with his legs, Wilder sounds like a poor sport in the eyes of boxing fans, who don’t believe him.
Wilder doesn’t realize that fans are naturally skeptical when a fighter makes excuses after a loss. They’re so used to fighters coming up with different reasons for why they lose, it no longer registers with them. Since the fans don’t buy the excuses from defeated fighters, it’s not even worth saying anything.