Boxing news - Deontay Wilder blames Tyson Fury defeat on 'too heavy' ring-walk costume

Deontay Wilder has blamed his defeat in Saturday's WBC heavyweight title fight against Tyson Fury on his ring-walk costume being "too heavy".

Wilder and Fury fought to a split-decision draw in their first meeting in December 2018 but their rematch was a one-sided affair as the 'Gypsy King' took control early and never let up en route to a seventh-round stoppage.

The loss was the first for Wilder (42-1-1) while lineal heavyweight champion Fury improved to 30-0-1 but Wilder says his opponent did not hurt him, but his armoured uniform in honour of Black History Month was too heavy.

"Fury didn't hurt me at all, but the simple fact is that my uniform was way too heavy for me," Wilder told Yahoo.

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"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.

"I was only able to put it on [for the first time] the night before but I didn't think it was going to be that heavy.

"I wanted it to be good and I guess I put that before anything."

Wilder also criticised assistant trainer Mark Breland for stopping the fight, insisting that he was still in the fight despite Fury knocking him over in the third and fifth rounds.

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"I am upset with Mark for the simple fact that we've talked about this many times and it's not emotional," he said.

"It is not an emotional thing, it's a principal 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.

"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."

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