Deontay Wilder was steamrolled by heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday, February 22, but he immediately began rolling out some bizarre excuses.
One of the most entertaining excuses came when Wilder blamed his loss on his elaborate 45-pound entrance costume. Wilder said the costume wore out his legs before he ever made it to the ring for his seventh-round TKO loss to Fury which cost him the WBC heavyweight title.
“Deontay Wilder tells me he is definitely exercising his rematch clause for a summer trilogy against Tyson Fury, that his legs were weakened by his 45-pound costume he wore to the ring to honor Black History Month,” Lance Pugmire of The Athletic wrote on Twitter.
But not so fast, my friends…
As it turns out, Wilder previously boasted that he trains with a 45-pound weight vest in order to improve his fast-twitch muscles and endurance. Wilder made the comments during an appearance on the most popular podcast in the world, The Joe Rogan Experience.
The video has since circulated online which immediately put an end to the costume excuse.
“We want to activate the fast-twitch muscles,” Wilder told Rogan. “We do everything with rapid speed, if I’m doing anything that consists of me moving my feet it’s sprinting. Now I wear a 45-pound vest on me as well as doing all my exercises and everything that I do to have that extra weight on me.”
Well, there goes that.
The good news for boxing fans is that Wilder and Fury will complete their trilogy after Wilder activated the rematch clause in his contract. The current goal is to have the trilogy fight take place over the summer. Whether Wilder walks out with another elaborate costume for the third Fury fight remains to be seen.
