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Deontay Wilder will add two people to his team prior to training camp for his third fight against Tyson Fury.
The former WBC heavyweight champion hasn’t solidified those new team members, according to what he said during the most recent episode of “The PBC Podcast.” Wilder didn’t mention any names, though he later discussed in an episode that debuted Wednesday conversations he has had with former heavyweight champion George Foreman since Fury beat him.
“I am looking to bring someone in, for sure,” Wilder told co-hosts Kenneth Bouhairie and Mike Rosenthal. “We don’t have it down yet, but I’m definitely gonna bring – I’ve got two people I’m bringing in. You know, one of them, he always come to camp on some basis or whatever. He always around. He in and out anyway. But we’ll see what happens. I think we’ve got a great team that’s gonna be formed. Once everything goes back to normal, hopefully it’ll be sooner than later, and I can get my team in order and we can move forward with our game plan for the third fight.”
Fury and Wilder are tentatively scheduled to fight a third time October 3 at an undetermined venue. They initially thought their third fight would take place July 18 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, but it was delayed once the coronavirus crisis essentially shut down the boxing business.
Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) has been trained throughout his career by Jay Deas, who is Wilder’s co-manager as well. He also announced the week after Fury stopped him in the seventh round that he will retain longtime assistant trainer Mark Breland, who threw in the towel in the seventh round of Wilder’s loss to Fury on February 22 at MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Wilder was critical of Breland’s decision to throw in the towel in the immediate aftermath of his first professional defeat. Deas stated during their post-fight press conference that he told Breland that Breland shouldn’t throw in the towel earlier in the seventh round.
The 34-year-old Wilder, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, also noted that he has been approached by various veteran trainers since Fury beat him. He has been careful, however, about speaking to those interested in helping him make the strategic and technical adjustments necessary to have a better chance at avenging his technical-knockout loss to England’s Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs).
“We’ve been having a lot of people reach out and different things and whatnot, you know,” Wilder said. “But you just have to be careful with that, because a lot of people see this time and they just want publicity. They wanna be able to say they was the name that, you know, they was the name that came in and stuff like that. And just look at it a different way. That’s how I’m looking at it, and that’s how I know boxing. Boxing is very crooked. It’s a dirty business.
“You know, you’ve gotta make sure you be careful. It’s a corrupt sport as well – very. … You’ve gotta be careful about the people that you bring around, what the intent of that person is trying to come in to help, especially when they never reached out before and wanna seize an opportunity. You know, I done seen so much, I done been around so much, I done had people tell me things, tell me not to go and do this and say this, and then they turn around and do the same sh*t they told me not to do. You know what I’m saying? It’s a lot of stuff go on in boxing. Who can you trust?”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.