Mark Breland, the cornerman fired by Deontay Wilder in the wake of a defeat to Tyson Fury last February, has refused to respond directly to the attack.
The 1984 Olympic gold medalist was blamed by ‘The Bronze Bomber’ – not only for throwing in the towel but for apparently helping Fury and his team spike his water.
Those claims, which Wilder threw out there with no evidence, have sparked a huge debate on social media.
Not one to usually be present on the platform regularly, Breland was helped by his family to connect in a thank you message to his fans.
Breland did not answer Wilder’s shock accusations or defend his performance at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Mark Breland Deontay Wilder
The former fighter did reveal his astonishment, though, as he said: “Anyone who really knows me knows I wouldn’t go back and forth with anybody – unless it’s in the ring!
“I’ve been boxing since I was eight years old. So I didn’t give a big portion of my life to the sport. I dedicated my entire life to this sport!
“But, I have never seen the things I’m seeing now in all of those years!”
He continued: “I’m only on social media because of my girl. We went somewhere, and there was a picture of me, and we were very surprised.
She said: “This is one of the reasons you need social media in this day and time. She said some people have deep admiration for you and social media is a way to give them some access to you.
“My daughter asks me all the time, and am I tired of it. Do I want to go back to life without it? I always say no. Because the amount of support, love, and gratitude I get let me know all the hard work I put into my career was worth it!
“I looked at and read thousands of videos, texts, and comments. If I could, I would put up a thousand of them because so many of them were (good). But I can’t.
“I do have a file for all of them that moved me.”
DEONTAY WILDER TWEET
Concluding by offering his gratitude, Breland stated: “I thank you for all of your words!
“I chose this one (with Teddy Atlas) because it hit most of the marks and said as only he could! Thanks, Teddy Atlas.
“Let me add this last, the Twitter pic that’s out there is not from me. It’s not how I speak, and there’s nothing funny about this show that’s going on!
“Stay tuned! Stay well, and I’m still standing!”
The final point is where Breland mentions a tweet referred to a doctored post using his verified Twitter account. The platform has been unused since 2016.
Despite this, some took it upon themselves to mock up their own response to Wilder, which some wrongly considered accurate.
WBN Editor Phil has over ten years of boxing news experience. Follow World Boxing News on Facebook @officialworldboxingnews and Twitter @worldboxingnews.
