By Barry Holbrook: Former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay ‘Bronze Bomber’ Wilder put out a statement on social media on Friday saying that he will be returning to the ring soon to regain his title from Tyson Fury. Wilder looked and sounded emotional during his post on social media on Friday.
Wilder didn’t say whether he has officially exercised his rematch clause in his contract with Fury. That still needs to be done if it hasn’t yet.
Coach Breland won’t be fired
Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) says his trainer Mark Breland will remain part of his team, and he understands that he had his best interest in mind when he stopped his fight with Fury last Saturday.
‘The Bronze Bomber’ Wilder didn’t say anything about whether he’ll fire his other trainer Jay Deas or if he’ll add another coach to help Deas and Breland out. Wilder looks like he needs an additional coach that could help him with his flaws, and come up with a great game plan.
The perfect guy for Wilder would be Fury’s old coach Ben Davison. He would help Wilder with his defense, and he’d know exactly how to beat Fury. Whether Wilder would feel confident in hiring Davison is another thing, but it would be great for him to have a guy that knows Fury’ s strengths and weaknesses like Davison. Someone like Roy Jones Jr. would be a great coach as well, but it’s unclear if Wilder would be able to improve as much with him as he would with Davison, who knows Fury’s flaws better.
Wilder made this statement per @MikeCoppinger:
“I’m a warrior. I feel the same way I felt on fight night. If I have to go out, I want to go out on my shield. But I understand that my corner and my team has my best interest at heart. Mark Breland is still a part of Team Wilder. Our team looks forward to preparing for the rematch. #WilderFury2.”
Wilder has taken all kinds of heat from boxing fans for the excuse that he made about being weakened from the costume that he wore during the ring-walk. Fans think Wilder was making an excuse. We’ll see if Wilder’s performance improves in the rematch with him NOT wearing a heavy costume during the ring-walk.
If Wilder does beat Fury in the rematch, then a lot of boxing fans and members of the media will need to acknowledge that their initial thoughts are Wilder were wrong.
Statement from Deontay Wilder:
“I’m a warrior. I feel the same way I felt on fight night. If I have to go out, I want to go out on my shield. But I understand that my corner and my team has my best interest at heart. Mark Breland is still a part of Team Wilder.” #WilderFury2
— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) February 29, 2020
Areas of Wilder’s game that needs improving
Above all, Wilder needs to learn how to fight on the inside better if he’s to have to any shot at beating Fury in the rematch. Now that Fury knows that he can defeat Wilder by taking the match to the inside, he’s going to do that repeatedly in their next fight. There’s not much Wilder will be able to do to keep Fury from getting inside on him, unfortunately.
Here are areas Wilder needs to work on:
- Staying off the ropes
- Don’t let Fury lean on him
- Use jab more
- Work on the left hook
- stay in the center of the ring