By Barry Holbrook: Tyson Fury says he’s concerned with former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder’s mental wellbeing following his seventh-round knockout loss to him earlier this year on February 22nd.
Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) says the numerous excuses that the knockout artist Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) has made since his loss nine months ago suggests that he’s unable to accept his defeat.
Tyson wants to help Wilder, and he says he’s just a phone call away from giving him the assistance he needs. Wilder seems to be more interested in getting his contractual rematch with Fury in December.
Deontay’s management plans to have a dispute resolution mediation this week with a retired judge to enforce the trilogy fight with Fury. If Fury wants to help Wilder, he can tell his promoters at Top Rank and Queensbury that he wants them to make the fight.
Fury is said to be looking to face Agit Kabayel on December 5th in London, England. Kabayel is a fringe level fighter with very little power and not considered a dangerous opponent. Although Kabayel did defeat Dereck Chisora in 2017 by a close 12 round majority decision, that was against an out of shape Delboy.
Fury worried about Wilder’s mental health
“This Wilder fight, I think Wilder has bigger issues than boxing at the moment,” Fury said to This Morning. “I’m quite worried about Wilder’s mental health and wellbeing. Since the fight, it’s been quite a while ago.
“It was February of this year earlier on. You know, we all want to be defeated after all this time of being undefeated as a professional. But there has to be a point where you accept defeat and move on,” said Fury.
Wilder has been almost invisible since his defeat to Fury in February, and it’s been very unlike the Alabama native. He’s generally been a very vocal person outside of the ring, and it’s taken boxing fans by surprise to see him staying quiet.
It’s clear that Wilder isn’t adjusting well to his defeat, and there’s probably nothing that can be done about that. If Wilder had been trash-talking like usual, the fans wouldn’t have wondered about him as much.
The other thing that has some people wondering about Wilder is all the excuses he’s made since his defeat. He’s come up with many reasons why he lost to Fury, and a lot of it sounds odd.
Fighters often make excuses for when they lose, but they don’t typically rattle off a high number of reasons like we see with Deontay.
Tyson offers to help Deontay
“Wilder doesn’t seem to be able to do that. He’s holding all these malice feelings and making all these excuses,” Fury continued. “I’m quite concerned about his mental wellbeing after this defeat because he’s coming out with.
“I’m only a phone call away. I’ll give him the best advice that I can. To go on the way he’s been, the fight has affected his wellbeing. Well, I’m hoping to fight on December the 5th, yes.
“I’m not sure if there’s going to be an audience or not. If it’s going to be behind closed doors, then it’ll be behind closed doors.
“Yeah, I’d definitely do a fight behind closed doors. I’m hoping to fight December the 5th here in the UK for the first time in 30 months,” said Fury.
Fury talking to Wilder might not change anything. Wilder needs to face Fury again and show that his loss was just a fluke.