Deontay Wilder says he lost his fight against Tyson Fury because the heavy costume he wore for his walk to the ring left his legs weak.
It’s possible to make too grand an entrance
Deontay Wilder pulled out all the stops for his walk to the ring before Saturday night’s title fight against Tyson Fury. He got rapper D Smoke to introduce him before marching to the ring in a gem-encrusted, light-up set of steel armor while video boards displayed images of famous African-Americans in a celebration of Black History Month.
It was a sight to behold.
And then he
lost for the first time in his career.According to Wilder, the elaborate entrance and the outcome of the fight were related. He told multiple outlets on Monday that he lost the bout because the heavy costume he wore to the ring left his legs weak.
“He didn’t hurt me at all, but the simple fact is ... that my uniform was way too heavy for me,” Wilder told Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports. “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. But I’m a warrior and people know that I’m a warrior. It could easily be told that I didn’t have legs or anything. A lot of people were telling me, ‘It looked like something was wrong with you.’ Something was, but when you’re in the ring, you have to bluff a lot of things. I tried my best to do so. I knew I didn’t have the legs because of my uniform.”
Wilder told The Athletic’s Lance Pugmire something similar, saying he should have tested how it would feel to walk to the ring with the outfit on.
“I didn’t expect it to be that heavy and have that effect on me,” Wilder said. “That’s the thing we didn’t test out: walking to the ring. We didn’t time it right. It’s all my fault. It’s a learning process.”
I know I’d collapse in a heap after walking 50 feet with 40 pounds on my back, but you’d never expect an elite heavyweight like Wilder to struggle with a relatively small amount of added weight.
Wilder was already carrying some extra weight even before he put on the costume. He weighed in the day before the fight at 231 pounds, the heaviest of his career. He had been 212.5 pounds for his first bout with Fury in December 2018.
Fury, meanwhile, rested his legs for his entrance, being carried down the aisle in a throne.
Wilder said Monday he plans to exercise his rematch clause for a fight this summer. Maybe he’ll follow Fury’s lead next time and rest his legs by getting carried to the ring.
The best of SI
Kobe Bryant doesn’t have to stop impacting lives now that he’s gone. ... Who won and lost at the NHL trade deadline? ... Who has the best case to earn a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament? ... Legal expert Michael McCann examines Vanessa Bryant’s wrongful death lawsuit against the helicopter operator.
Around the sports world
G-League coach Chase Buford was suspended two games for his epic rant about the officiating in his team’s loss on Sunday. ... ESPN’s Dave McMenamin has the story of the flight during which the Lakers found out Kobe Bryant had died. ... A runner who slipped on a snowy trail in Washington state and broke his leg crawled for 10 hours to reach safety.
Vanessa Bryant’s eulogy was truly incredible
MJ and Shaq brought the house down with some great anecdotes
Sabrina Ionescu really is incredible
An NHL trade deadline story in two parts
This is going to happen roughly 300 times this year
This guy’s got the right attitude
Will the deformed pinky drop him down draft boards?
Trae Young is unreal
Pablo Torre and Bomani Jones are two of ESPN’s smartest and stinks that the network can’t find anything for them to do
Calgary’s trade deadline shopping list
Not sports
Katherine Johnson, the former NASA scientist whose work was highlighted in the film Hidden Figures, died at age 101. ... An American farmer set a record by purchasing an English sheepdog at auction for £18,900 ($24,500). ... An sailor who survived 10 days shipwrecked in the middle of the ocean explained how he and his two-man crew survived the ordeal. ... The first images of Robert Pattinson’s Batman have leaked out. ... A 62-year-old former Marine set a new world record by holding a plank position for eight hours.
FX is making a series about a guy who claims his father was the Zodiac Killer
What did he think would happen?
A good song
Email dan.gartland@si.com with any feedback or follow me on Twitter for approximately one half-decent baseball joke per week. Bookmark this page to see previous editions of Hot Clicks and find the newest edition every day. By popular request I’ve made a Spotify playlist of the music featured here. Visit our Extra Mustard page throughout each day for more offbeat sports stories.
0 comments:
Post a Comment