By Charles Brun: Eddie Hearn appeared to be mocking Deontay Wilder in responding to his excuse about his ring-walk uniform being too heavy, and that it weakened his legs before his rematch with Tyson Fury, causing him to lose.
Wilder blamed his lackluster performance in losing to Fury by a 7th round knockout on his 40-lb uniform, and he also feels that his trainer Mark Breland made the mistake of throwing in the towel.
Fury seemed to have the right idea with him being carried to the ring on a royal throne. He didn’t have to wear his legs down with a heavy uniform the way that Wilder did.
Even in the dressing room before the fight, Fury was sitting basically the whole time, conserving his energy and not wearing himself out needlessly. In contrast, Wilder was on his feet almost the entire time before the fight, throwing punches and warming up. The warm-up for Wilder was arguably longer for the entire fight.
Eddie Hearn happy Wilder getting another chance
Hearn said this on social media in reaction to Wilder activating the rematch clause for a third fight with Fury:
“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.”
Is Hearn serious about him being “GLAD” that Wilder is getting another chance to fight Fury? It sure doesn’t sound that way. Hearn sounds like he’s got a case of ‘bitter grapes’ in being unhappy that he didn’t get his way. Fury beating Wilder got Hearn’s hopes up for a Fury-Joshua fight, which would have made massive money from UK pay-per-view sales on Sky Box Office. But now that Wilder has exercised the rematch clause for the Fury fight, Hearn isn’t getting his dream fight.
Now all Hearn can do is cheer for Fury to beat Wilder again. Hearn seems to think Fury will, but if he’s wrong, he’ll have to deal with trying to negotiate a fight with Wilder and his management team at Premier Boxing Champions. That could mean that Joshua would need to come to the U.S to fight Wilder rather than staging it in Saudi Arena, where AJ is a big star and would have a huge advantage with the crowd.
Hearn might think it’s a poor excuse by Wilder to be saying that the uniform weakened his legs, but there’s simply no denying the fact that he looked WEAK from the outset of the fight with Fury. It may seem a little laughable for a fighter to be weakened from wearing a 40+ pound uniform for 15 to 20 minutes moments before an important athletic event, but it makes sense.
Wilder will likely be lighter for third Fury fight
The loss for Wilder will enable him to make corrections with his weight for the third fight with Fury, and it’s quite possible he’ll come into the match lighter. Wilder bulked up from 212 lbs from the first fight to 230 for the rematch with Fury, and he looked slower. The extra weight didn’t help Wilder, and it might have contributed to him being stationary.
Fury will likely come into the trilogy match with Wilder in the 270+ lb region once again, believing that he can use his extra weight to bully, maul like last Saturday.
If Wilder is able to move around the ring, and not be forced up against the ropes, Fury could be in for a much different fight. Instead of the weight helping Fury, it might actually hurt him. Fury was mainly effective last Saturday when he had Wilder on the ropes. If Wilder stays in the center of the ring, he could make it tough on Fury, because he does better when he can use his size.
Wilder fought the worst possible fight against Fury. With the way Wilder fought, he would have been in trouble even against a more limited fighter like Mariusz Wach. Backing up against the ropes to fight a 270+ lb heavyweight is the wrong thing to do. Wilder needs to use his lighter frame to move around the ring, and pick spots to nail Fury with huge right hands.
Deontay says Fury fight will take place in summer
“We’re definitely going to exercise it,” said Wilder to ESPN.com. “We’re looking forward to it. I’m a warrior and a true champion and I fight like that every bit of the way. We’re definitely going on with it. That’s for sure. By the summertime.”
Wilder clearly wasn’t 100% for the fight with Fury last Saturday. Whether that was entirely due to the heavy uniform he wore is unknown. Fury’s punches to the back of Wilder’s head each round perhaps didn’t help matters.
Hearn does appear to be a little bitter, doesn’t he? It’s understandable why Hearn reacted in a sarcastic manner to Wilder’s ring-walk outfit excuse because he was hoping that he would elect NOT to trigger the rematch clause. Hearn BADLY wanted Joshua to be the one that faces Fury next, NOT WIlder, and now his dreams of that happening have been dashed. But as the saying goes, ‘all good things come to those who wait.’
Hearn needs to be patient, and wait for Fury to be freed up after his third fight with Wilder. Of course, if Wilder’s uniform excuse was valid, we could see a very different fighter in the third fight with Fury, and he might even knock him out. In that case, Hearn will need to make a decision whether to try and set-up a fight between Joshua and Wilder or go after the defeated Fury and hope that British boxing fans still want to see this fight.
Arum believes Wilder’s head covering choked off his oxygen
Fury’s promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank thinks it was “NEGLIGENT” on his part for him to wear a mask over his head for his ring-walk. He believes that the mask cut off the oxygen for Wilder.
“He had to be very, very negligent coming in with that head covering because that choked off his oxygen, and I’m sure that had an effect,” Arum said to ESPN.com.
Arum pointed out that football coach Jon Gruden thought Wilder’s mask was a “crazy” thing for him to wear moments before a fight. Wilder had the thing for a long time, which could have affected him.
Wilder should have tested out his uniform by wearing it for 15 to 20 minutes weeks before the fight rather than going out there on the night of the fight without testing it first.
Joshua will now face Pulev next
Hearn may not like it but he’s going to have to deal with Wilder and Fury fighting again. Eddie needs to finish negotiating IBF/WBA/WBO champion Joshua’s fight for June 20 against IBF mandatory Kubrat Pulev.
It’s not a great fight, but neither was Joshua vs. Andy Ruiz Jr. Joshua took Ruiz lightly and got sparked out in 7 rounds, and course, we heard the excuses from Hearn and AJ in the aftermath of the defeat.
As things turned out, Joshua was able to rectify the defeat by coming back to beat Ruiz Jr. in a rematch on December 7 in Saudi. Perhaps Wilder will be able to do the same thing to avenge his loss to Fury, which will likely Hearn extremely unhappy. But oh well, you can’t get everything you want.