Deontay Wilder has made a claim over the count of his final round knockdown of Tyson Fury on Saturday night.
In a moment mimicking that of Mike Tyson putting James ‘Buster’ Douglas on the canvas back in 1990, Wilder says referee Jack Reiss took a long count.
Back in Tokyo, Tyson dropped Douglas in round eight for what has since been counted at around 13 seconds. This means, Tyson would have kept his undefeated run and one of the greatest boxing upsets of all time should never have taken place.
Wilder is now claiming Reiss began his count a few seconds too late, which on reflection doesn’t seem to be the case.
Reiss put his fingers in Fury’s face at his own count of four (which maybe was five). And there is an added argument that the Briton reached ten before fully on his feet.
Speaking in the aftermath, Wilder said: “Thanks to all the fans who supported this David vs Goliath fight.
“It was an amazing fight and I wanted nothing but greatness to come from this. The fight lived up to the hype more than ever.
“When you put the best against the best, exciting things happen. I take nothing away from this fight, but we won this fight.
“To beat the champion you must dominate the champ. To me, I was the more aggressive fighter and landed the more effective punches.
“You saw the best Fury, but you did not get the best Wilder and I still managed to get the job done.
“This event brought more pressure than I expected. I just wanted the best for boxing here in America and boxing in general. Which lead me to get overly anxious to knock his head off so I abandoned the game plan.
COUNT
“Did the count start 3-4 seconds late or was the count too long? – That is the question many are asking and debating about.
“The referee Jack Reiss is an amazing ref in which I’ve had the pleasure to work with on several occasions. He did a great job.
“Boxing and fans are the real winners. I can’t wait for Wilder-Fury II to end the controversial talk around the world once and for all,” he added.
Wembley Stadium in the late spring or Las Vegas are the early favorites to stage the second contest.
