Two days after his loss to Tyson Fury last Saturday, Deontay Wilder is giving his view of things that may have played a factor in him losing his WBC heavyweight title. Fury appeared to land a HUGE amount of punches to the back of Wilder’s head during the fight, including a right hand that dropped him in round 3.
Considering all the rabbit punches Wilder was hit with by Fury, it would be interesting if the fight were changed to a ‘no contest’ after the fact. Obviously that’s not going to happen, but it would make sense if it did.
On a side note: There will be a trilogy fight between Wilder and Fury. Deontay told Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports News that he’ll be facing Fury in the trilogy match. That fight will be taking place this summer.
In watching the fight, it’s surprising that Fury wasn’t disqualified for the fouling. Getting hit to the back of the head is more dangerous than getting nailed with a low blow, and Wilder was hit with rabbit punches in the fight. Fury’s best punches of the fight appeared to be the rabbit shots that he landed. By the 4th, you can argue that Fury should have been penalized 3 times for the rabbit shots.
Deontay used the wrong weapons for his battle
Wilder was trying to fight a conventional battle against a fighter that was taking things to another level with rabbit punches, and he was never going to win that kind of a fight. I don’t think Wilder ever stood a chance. How Fury was able to get away with the punches to the back of the head is anyone’s guess.
Additionally, Wilder (42-0-1, 41 KOs) said his legs were weakened from the heavy costume he wore into the ring.
The three things that may have led to Wilder losing to Fury:
Rabbit punches
Headlocks
Heavy 40-lb costume
Wilder loss the result of a PERFECT STORM
It’s hard to say what was worse for Wilder: the rabbit shots he was getting brained with by Fury or the heavy 40+ lb costume that weakened his legs. You hate to say it but it was like the perfect storm last Saturday, and Wilder maneuvered straight into it.
The combination of the rabbit-punching Fury, a referee that wasn’t warning/penalizing/disqualifying for the constant fouls, and Wilder’s legs being weakened before the fight from the heavy costume, it was too much for Deontay to overcome.
You can argue the knockdown that Fury was given credit for in the 3rd should have been waived off, and a warning given to him for hitting on the back of the head.
“The referee told me specifically that if I hit him in the back of the head or hit him on the break, he’d disqualify me,” Wilder said to Yahoo Sports News. “But I guess that was only directed toward me because he allowed Fury to do those things. That’s the one thing that bothered me of everything.”
Why wasn’t Fury penalized for his fouling?
With the referee not stepping in to take points off from Fury for his fouling, Wilder never stood a chance in the fight.In the first fight in 2018, Fury wasn’t hitting Wilder with rabbit punches. What changed from the first fight to the second one for Fury to have thrown so many shots that landed on the back of Wilder’s head? One would hope this wasn’t the new ‘game plan’ for Fury to win the fight by going all out with illegal rabbit shots.
It’s the referee’s job obviously to police fouling, and it didn’t appear to happen last Saturday.
If Wilder was returning fire with 5 or 6 debilitating low blows each round, some of which resulted in Fury hitting the deck, would the referee count that as a knockdown or waive it off and give warnings?
Wilder looked like he never recovered from the rabbit punch that Fury hit him with in the 3rd. If that was the only rabbit shot that Fury landed in the fight, it would have been bad enough, but it wasn’t. Fury continued to land rabbit punches in rounds 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. Wilder looked helpless with the referee not stepping in to warn or penalize Fury.
Fury’s rabbit punching gave Wilder problems
It appeared to be a clear punch to the back of Wilder’s head. In the 4th, Fury knocked Wilder down with a right to the back of the head. The knockdown was waived off by the referee, but Fury wasn’t penalized.
Wilder says the referee Kenny Bayless “allowed” Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) to hit him in the back of the head [rabbit punches] or hit on the break, both of which did during the fight. Deontay says he was bothered by the fact that the referee Bayless didn’t do anything to stop the fouling from Fury.
Wilder was weakened from wearing a heavy 40-lb costume into the ring before the start of his rematch with Fury last weekend at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Wilder says uniform weakened his legs
“My uniform was way too heavy for me,” Wilder said. “I didn’t have no legs from the beginning of the fight. In the third round, my legs were just shot all the way through. A lot of people were telling me, ‘It looked like something was wrong with you.’ Something was…I knew I didn’t have the legs because of my uniform. It weighed 40, 40-some pounds with the helmet and all the batteries,” said Wilder.
It was just a horrible night for Wilder from the very start. The uniform, and the fouling he endured. Wilder went through hell last Saturday and then lost his title.