Deontay Wilder was punch drunk against Tyson Fury from shot to the ear

By Boxing News - 10/19/2021 - Comments

By Allan Fox: Deontay Wilder was punch drunk from the third round in his trilogy match against Tyson Fury after getting hit with a hard shot behind the ear. That’s what his trainer Malik Scott says.

It wasn’t that Wilder (42-2-1 41 KOs) had gassed out and was poorly conditioned, as many boxing fans believe, according to Malik.

He was hit behind the ear by Fury in round 3, which took away his legs entirely for the remainder of the fight.  Wilder still had his power, but his legs were gone, and he could barely stand up.

Unfortunately, the fans aren’t going to buy Malik’s excuse for why Wilder looked so tired. He looked like a guy that wasn’t appropriately conditioned to fight hard, especially with all the muscle mass that he packed on.

Being the trainer, Malik is responsible for Wilder’s conditioning, and he looked like he dropped the ball.

Wilder got hit behind the ear

“He didn’t say anyone cheated, and he didn’t say ‘He caught me off guard,'” said trainer Malik Scott to Blue Blood Sports TV on Wilder’s loss to Fury.

Image: Deontay Wilder was punch drunk against Tyson Fury from shot to the ear

“He said, ‘No, no, no.’ In boxing, people get hit in the ear. This is heavyweight top-quality boxing at the highest level. It’s not an excuse. He got hit in the ear, which is fair play to Fury.

“Fury is fighting, and he’s trying to get him out of there like we were trying to do him.

“Those narratives that come out about Deontay are so unfair. ‘Ah, that’s another excuse.’ He didn’t say nobody did nothing wrong. He just said that ‘after I got hit with a good shot, my equilibrium was off, which is factual.

“The first knockdown wasn’t like how the other ones were. It was like; he must have gotten hit with something because he looked wobbly.

“It was like, he got hit with a good shot, and it knocked his equilibrium off, which is good, but that’s not an excuse.

“Stop trying to attack Deontay. Cut that s*** out. The man just gave you a hard guts gory passion. Please give him a brick for the first month. Back off with that s***.

“We’re about to be back in the camp in a few months. Y’all can come back and attack us then. Stop doing that, man,” said Malik.

It sounds like Malik is making an excuse for why Wilder lost by saying that he got hit behind the ear. He should just tell it like it is and say that he didn’t train him right, and that’s why Fury beat him again.

Deontay’s equilibrium was off

“His equilibrium was off from Tyson hitting him with a very good shot, and he got up,” said Malik.

“Then what did he do when he got up? Tyson hopped on him once he got up. He survived that storm. He came back to his corner.

“I give him some instructions. He took the instructions. Not one time talking in the corner. Not one time acting like he don’t know I’m getting. ‘Yes, sir. I got you.’ Alright, then get back out there. No excuses were made.

“He [Wilder] goes out there in the next round and does a beautiful sequence knockdown. That knockdown was so beautiful, and it come from a decoy.

“You can’t just go out there. How many times did Deontay miss a reckless one-two at Fury? Tons of times. You have to decorate your work. You have to dress Fury up before you throw any punchy at him. He’s very crafty,” said Scott.

The reason Wilder’s equilibrium was off is that he backed up against the ropes in the third round and allowed Fury to club him with one of his hammer fists to the back of the head.

Wilder should have been trained by Malik NOT go back up against the ropes against Fury, but he looked like he hadn’t learned a thing from his previous fight against the 6’9″ British heavyweight.

You got to blame Malik for that. After all, he was the ship’s captain, so he’s got to go down with it in the traditional way.

Malik can’t wait to start training camp

“So what did he [Deontay] do? He gave him a jab to the body and then a shot to the head,” said Malik. “That’s how you got to do it. That’s how the first knockdown came about.

“The second knockdown came about when Deontay was inside, and Fury wanted to wrestle, and Deontay at times doesn’t work the freehand.

“He worked the freehand right there. It’s there, so you might as well use it. He worked the free hand, caught Fury on the head, and Fury goes down again.

“It’s all about Deontay doing these things, as I said before, on a much more consistent basis.

“That’s all it is. I think what I learned from that is more drilling. I can’t wait to get him back in camp.

“I want him to rest and finish up surgery and everything, but looking at that fight on  TV, it made me even more proud of him,”  said Malik about Wilder.

It sounds like Malik is expecting to keep his job after Wilder’s loss.  At this point, you would think that it might be a good idea for Wilder to start looking around for a new trainer the way Anthony Joshua is right now.

With Wilder having lost his last two fights to Fury, his career is in worse shape than Joshua’s right now.

Deontay should visit Eddy Reynoso, Ronnie Shields, and Virgil Hunter to see if one of those trainers would be a good fit to replace Malik because he didn’t look well prepared for the trilogy match with Fury.

Wilder was so weak by the later rounds that he could no longer defend himself, and he was stopped in the 11th by Fury.  What’s strange is that it took Fury until the 11th to knock out Wilder.

How did he survive for eight rounds against Fury with his legs being completely gone? It doesn’t make Fury look good too good that he couldn’t knock out Wilder with his equilibrium being gone from the third