Fury: Wilder's Career Would've Ended If Corner Didn't Stop Sequel

WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury believes Deontay Wilder should be thankful that his corner stopped him from taking further damage in their February sequel by throwing in the towel in the seventh round.

Prior to the towel, Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) scored two knockdowns and a one-sided shutout over Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs), who never seemed to show the skills or devastating power that he displayed during his five-year reign as a heavyweight titlist.

“I think something severely bad would have happened to him if they left him in. He couldn’t protect himself, he didn’t win a round, and he was getting badly injured,” Fury told Behind The Gloves. “There was a really bad swelling at the top of his head. [Wilder co-trainer] Mark Breland, I think they need to give him a pay raise because, without Mark Breland, there wouldn’t have been a third fight. He would have been retired from boxing,” said Fury … It’s up to the corner [to stop fights]. That’s what you pay them for basically to look out for your interest. I believe they left him in too long anyway.”

Fury also offered Wilder a rebuttal, who claimed he doesn’t deem the British boxer as a world champion.

“I don’t know what crack he’s smoking, but does he think he was a champion before I beat him? … If I’m not a world champion, then what does that make him? I think he was a champion for five years and made eleven defenses, and I smashed him to pieces basically. And I took his belt off of him, so maybe he feels a little bit rubbed. I don’t know where he’s coming from.

“It was his prestigious WBC belt, Lucille, and now I’ve got it. Maybe he doesn’t want me to be champion? It’s very unimportant what Deontay Wilder thinks because when a fighter has been smashed to pieces like he has put down three or four times and brutalized, then I’m sure they’ve got to come up with some excuses. It’s the road to excuse-city.”

Wilder and Fury are slated to meet for a third fight later this winter in a yet to be finalized locale.

Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist and member of the Boxing Writers Assn. of America since 2011. He has written for the likes of the LA Times, Guardian, USA Today, Philadelphia Inquirer, Men’s Health and NFL.com. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan or via email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com.