Kellerman on Wilder blaming costume for loss: ‘He’s going into EGO protection’

By Boxing News - 02/25/2020 - Comments

By Sean Jones: Max Kellerman thinks Deontay Wilder is going into what he calls “ego protection” by blaming his loss to Tyson Fury on his legs being weakened from the heavy 40-lb costume that he wore for the ring-walk last Saturday night in Las Vegas.

Kellerman believes that former WBC heavyweight champion Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) is grasping at straws so that his brain can accept what happened to him, and save his ego by having a reason why he was so badly dominated by Fury in losing a 7th round knockout at the MGM Grand.

It’s Wilder’s way of making heads and tails out of what happened to him during his massacre loss. Above all, Wilder’s brain doesn’t accept that Fury is better than him.

Kellerman says the third Wilder-Fury fight won’t be any different than the second. The fans won’t believe Wilder has a chance to win.

Kellerman: Breland doesn’t deserve to be fired by Wilder

“Breland probably did the right thing, but I can see Deontay’s point,” said Kellerman to ESPN’s First Take on his trainer stopping the fight. “‘I’m a big puncher, and I am willing to die,’ is what he’s really saying. This is the heavyweight championship of the world, so usually, a trainer will give you a little more latitude.

“That said, the fight could also have been stopped. I understand it. Breland could have waited a little bit more, and I think he could have also stopped it before he did. It depends on what your tolerance is for a fighter’s risk in a heavyweight championship fight. That’s not a popular opinion that I have.

“I’m usually someone screaming to have a fight stopped if a guy’s taking punishment, but I think context matters. In boxing in order to be great, you have to take great risks with your health. I think fighters are allowed to say, ‘I want to dare to be great.’ But you’re right, the trainers are there to protect them. That’s not a fireable offense, what Breland did, certainly not,” said Kellerman.

We don’t know what is going through Wilder’s head right now. If he’s thinking about giving trainer Mark Breland the boot, it could be that he’s thinking that he can get a fresh start the way Fury did with Sugar Hill Steward. Fury wasn’t afraid to cut loose his trainer Ben Davison after his draw with Wilder in 2018, so it’s possible that Wilder might be thinking about changing out his own team.

For Wilder to make a clean sweep of his team, he would need to fire trainer Jay Deas as well. It would be interesting to see what someone like Eddy Reynoso could do with Wilder.

It’s hilarious for Wilder to blame the loss on his costume – Kellerman

“He probably did save him future possible health issues when he stopped the fight when he did. It’s a bad look” Kellerman on Breland pulling Wilder out of the fight in round 7. “It’s hilariously bad to blame it on your costume, even if you think that’s true. And Deontay is the type of dude that said afterward, ‘The better man won tonight.’ He said, ‘No excuses,’ right after he gave this excuse about his legs.

“And the reason he did it is the same reason, Muhammad Ali, who took the first loss from [Joe] Frazier really well, but also said, ‘Hey, I thought I won more rounds in that fight.’ He didn’t. Or Julio Cesar Chavez, who got a lucky draw against Pernell Whitaker, who really beat him. I’m talking about undefeated fighters, who couldn’t accept the fact that they’d been beaten, and that the other guy was better than them,” said Kellerman.

Wilder probably doesn’t care what people think of him. If he believes that his legs were weakened by him wearing the costume, then he’s going to say it. He’s a straight shooter. The way Wilder fought, he would have likely lost even if he’d walked out with no costume during the 100-yard ring-walk.

He looked like he wasn’t ready to beat Fury with him as huge as a house, and walking him down all night. It’s likely that Breland and Deas didn’t prepare Wilder to deal with Fury’s game plan. For that reason, Wilder probably should dump the whole team, and get some new blood to train him.

The pay-per-view sales for the third Wilder-Fury fight will likely take a hit, but with Fury’s popularity what it is right now, it’s possible that it could still do well.

Wilder going into ego protection

“Deontay is so proud, he’s going into ego protection,” said Kellerman on Wilder’s costume excuse. “He’s looking for reasons why he lost because his brain can’t accept, ‘That dude is better than me.’ And the way the fight went down, there’s no reason for a third fight. Everyone knows Tyson Fury is better.

“Does anybody think that Deontay is going to win? We’re going to be on pins and needles because that’s how hard Deontay hits. He always has that puncher’s chance, but no one is going to be picking Deontay in a third fight. It was so thorough a beating, that now his ego, he’s grasping at something. Do you know Emanuel Steward, whose nephew trained Tyson Fury for this fight, Sugar Hill?

“Emanuel Steward used to tell me and he believed it, that the reason Tommy Hearns lost to Marvin Hagler was, he got a leg massage before the fight,” said Kellerman. “Emanuel told him not to. So his legs were rubbery. I was like, ‘Come on, Emanuel,’ but he believed it because sometimes it’s trainers too. They have so much invested and being competitive, they grasp for straws. This is Deontay grasping for straws,” said Kellerman.

With Wilder going straight into the third fight with Fury off the back of his loss, fans won’t be giving him a chance to win. It was too much of a one-sided fight for boxing fans to give Wilder a shot in the third fight. Anything is possible though. If Wilder can land one of his straight right hands on Fury’s chin in the first couple of rounds, he could knock him out.