Deontay Wilder’s sacked coach responds to heavyweight’s defeat by Tyson Fury with cryptic video

Mark Breland was fired by Wilder for throwing in the towel in the American’s second fight with Fury

Alex Pattle
Tuesday 12 October 2021 04:29 EDT
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Mark Breland shared a video of himself shadow-boxing in a ring

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Deontay Wilder’s former coach Mark Breland has seemingly responded to the heavyweight’s knockout loss to Tyson Fury by posting a cryptic video on social media.

Breland was fired by Wilder for throwing in the towel in the seventh round of the American’s second fight with Fury last February, a bout that came 14 months after Wilder and the ‘Gypsy King’ fought to a controversial split draw.

Wilder and Fury completed their trilogy in Las Vegas on Saturday night, and the instant classic saw Wilder drop the Briton twice in the fourth round but floored several times himself.

In the 11th round, Fury put down Wilder for good to retain the WBC heavyweight title he took from the ‘Bronze Bomber’ in their second clash.

After that initial rematch, Wilder fired former welterweight champion Breland for throwing in the towel, suggesting he would rather have been knocked out cold.

That in fact happened at the T-Mobile Arena on Saturday night – with Malik Scott in Wilder’s corner – and Breland has appeared to respond to the result in a social media video.

On Sunday, the American shared a video of himself shadow-boxing in a ring.

While throwing jabs and combinations, Breland still looked light on his feet at 58 years old.

The caption simply read: “Great fight.”

As well as winning two world titles at welterweight during his career as a professional boxer, Breland was a gold medalist at the 1984 Olympic Games.

Wilder blamed his 2020 loss to Fury on a number of factors, from the weight of his own entrance costume to his water allegedly being spiked before the bout.

Following Saturday’s epic meeting in Vegas, Fury claimed that Wilder again refused to accept defeat gracefully.

“I’m a sportsman,” Fury said, calling Wilder an “idiot”.

“I went over to him to show some love and respect and he didn’t want to give it back. That’s his problem, I’ll pray for him so God will soften his heart.”

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