Deontay Wilder to Tyson Fury: ‘Be a man and honor your word’

Deontay Wilder spoke publicly for the first time in months Saturday about his loss to WBC heavyweight titleholder Tyson Fury in their second fight earlier this year, accusing Fury of having loaded gloves and also calling him out about not honoring the rematch clause in their contract.

In a Twitter video and three subsequent tweets, Wilder called Fury scared for not honoring their agreement. The remarks came a week after Fury announced that he plans to fight in London on Dec. 5 against an opponent who has yet to be announced. Fury and his co-promoter Frank Warren recently expressed doubt that a third fight with Wilder would happen in 2020.

Many previously thought a third fight between the two would happen in December. 

“When you were going through your darkest time, I told you that if you got yourself together I would give you a title shot. Being a man of my word, I gave you the title shot,” Wilder wrote on Twitter. “When that fight was a draw, I told you that I would give you a rematch. You know I was offered more money to fight [Anthony] Joshua than I was getting to fight you. Again, being a man of my word, I fought you like I said I would.

“In the rematch agreement, there was a rematch clause. Now it is time for you to be a man and honor your word, instead of trying to weasel out of our agreement.”

Wilder entered the first fight with Fury with a 40-0 record; that fight ended in a draw. In the Feb. 22 rematch, Fury won by TKO in the seventh round when Wilder’s trainer, Mark Breland, threw in the towel.

In his Twitter video Saturday, Wilder called Fury “a thief” who cheated Wilder from showing his greatness. He also accused Fury of using loaded gloves in both fights. He alleged that he saw Ricky Hatton, who was in Fury’s corner in the first fight, “pulling down your gloves to put your fists in the improper position.” 

“Y’all tried the same method the second time, but this time you scratched flesh out of my ears, which caused my ears to bleed,” Wilder said. “It’s impossible for a new 10-ounce glove to bend, to keep a smushed-in form or to have loose space.

“I highly believe you put something hard in your glove, something the size and the shape of an egg weight. It’s the reason why the side of my face swelled up in an egg-weight form. And it left a dent in my face, as well.”

ESPN’s Mark Kriegel spoke with Bob Bennett, the executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, who said Wilder’s allegations of Fury having an object in his gloves are “absolutely false.”

Bennett said there is a protocol for gloves in championship fights and gloves are factory-sealed and given to the commission at most 72 hours before the fight. They are then unsealed and inspected. Fighters pick their gloves post-weigh-in and then the gloves are again sealed and not seen again by fighters until fight night in the dressing room with an NSAC inspector in the room.

The gloves, Bennett told Kriegel, are never alone.

Fury has previously disputed the loaded-gloves claim. In an Instagram post in June, after Wilder’s brother suggested Fury had put something in his gloves, Fury wrote then that Wilder’s trainer, Jay Deas, was in the room and examined Fury when he had his hands wrapped and gloves put on. For the allegation to be true, Fury wrote, Deas would have to be in on it.

“So everybody citing foul play, bulls—,” Fury wrote in the post. “And for next time I’ll put a dent in his boxing career, end it, because it will be two knockout losses in a row. Bye, bye forever.”

In his Twitter video Saturday, Wilder also blamed Breland for throwing in the towel, calling him “disloyal,” and criticized referee Kenny Bayless for stopping the fight. Wilder announced earlier this month that he and Breland parted ways. 

When the fight was stopped, Fury had landed 82 of 267 punches compared with 34 of 141 for Wilder. Fury led 59-52 on two scorecards and 58-53 on a third when the fight was stopped in the seventh round.

“In the end, it took a crab-in-the-bucket referee and a disloyal trainer to throw the towel in just to stop me,” Wilder said. 

He ended the video by saying, “Payback is coming.”