American heavyweight boxer, Deontay Wilder has sacked his trainer after his disappointing loss to Tyson Fury over the weekend.
Wilder was knocked down twice and appeared to be suffering severely from Fury’s beatdown before his corner, led by Mark Breland, threw in the towel in the seventh round.
The boxer and his head trainer, Jay Deas, have since expressed their opposition to the decision taken by Breland and the rest of the team.
This is despite the fact that Wilder was taken to the hospital as a result of his injuries and missed the post-fight press conference.
Wilder believes Breland ‘gave up too early’ and thinks he could have completed all 12 rounds, giving him a chance to turn the tide.
The fight was one of the most anticipated in recent years and had been built up to be the event of the weekend.
It certainly proved to be as Fury’s TKO win dominated the headlines after the bout and in the days following it.
Wilder has already served notice as former WGC Heavyweight champion that he will evoke his rematch clause, setting up a third encounter between the pair.
Wilder is quoted as having told Yahoo: “I am upset with Mark for the simple fact that we’ve talked about this many times and it’s not emotional. It is not an emotional thing, it’s a principle thing. We’ve talked about this situation many, many years before this even happened. I said as a warrior, as a champion, as a leader, as a ruler, I want to go out on my shield. If I’m talking about going in and killing a man, I respect the same way. I abide by the same principle of receiving.
Wilder described himself as “special” adding that he has told his team never to throw in the towel.
“So I told my team to never, ever, no matter what it may look like, to never throw the towel in with me because I’m a special kind. I still had five rounds left. No matter what it looked like, I was still in the fight.’
Mark Breland is described by the Dailymail as a 56-year-old former Olympic Gold medalist who was once considered the No 1 amateur welterweight fighter in the world.
He has been in Wilder’s corner since 2015 and has been credited with the fighter’s exponential growth.
Take a look at the closing moments of the intense bout and the moment Wilder’s corner threw in the towel:
#TysonFury TKO and Wilder corner threw the towel #FuryWilder2 #FuryWilder #WilderFury2 #WildervsFury2 pic.twitter.com/mB8Mha8gur
— GlendaleCardinals (@YotesGlendale) February 23, 2020
