Getty Deontay Wilder enters the ring for his bout with Tyson Fury.
Tyson Fury revealed Wednesday in an interview with ITV that he isn’t buying Deontay Wilder’s wild excuse in regards to the American suffering the first loss of his professional prizefighting career to Fury in their epic rematch on Feb. 22 in Las Vegas.
“He (Deontay Wilder) said that he trains in a 45-pound weighted vest everyday,” Fury said per ITV.
Wilder revealed after the loss that his ring walk costume was to blame for his performance. Instead of admitting Fury was simply the better boxer on the night, which is what Wilder said during the post-fight interview immediately after his stoppage loss, the felled WBC heavyweight champion went on a makeshift PR campaign the following week to offer the idea that his legs weren’t under him because of how heavy his costume was that night on the way to the ring.
Still, the 31-year-old heavyweight champion Fury admitted he understood why Wilder would make such a shocking claim after Fury dominated and stopped the American in seven one-sided rounds. Fury believes Wilder is trying to convince himself that he has a real chance to beat Fury in the planned third fight set for this summer.
“But, you know, I can understand where he’s coming from,” Fury said. “In every fighter’s mind, there’s got to be a reason why they’ve lost. It can never be a simple fact (of) I wasn’t good enough on the night and lost to the better guy.”
Fury vs. Wilder 3: Summer Showdown
Fury vs. Wilder 3 is set to take place on July 22. The site for the epic third fight between two of the best heavyweight boxers in the world hasn’t yet been announced, but ESPN’s Dan Rafael pointed out that Las Vegas was the early front-runner.
Additionally, Rafael revealed the fight would take place somewhere in the U.S. no matter what as stipulated by the existing contractual terms the fighters signed before the second fight.
Fury’s Take of Post-Fight Excuses After Losses
Fury said it was common for fighters to point their fingers at other things after losses.
“It’s always got to be, ‘the camp was wrong. It was the trainer’s fault. It was my suit, it was my toe,'” Fury said.
Still, just because Fury understands how other fighters do those types of things after losses, the champ also pointed out that offering an excuse like that wasn’t something he would never do.
“With me, if I’m injured or whatever the problem is it’s like, ‘OK, the performance wasn’t great. But I’m going to move on and crack on,’” Fury said.
Fury is undefeated at the present, so his theory about how he might handle the situation remains untested. Should Wilder win the summer showdown later this year, perhaps it finally will.
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