Controversy on how Deontay Wilder got stopped against Tyson Fury got brushed off again as the pair prepare to settle the score this summer ultimately.
“The Bronze Bomber” was closing in on long-term damage to his health before cornerman Mark Breland decided the Fury clash in the seventh round.
That’s the verdict of “Stitch” Duran, Fury’s cutman for the infamous rematch in February of last year.
Revealing his thoughts ahead of the trilogy fight between Fury and Wilder in Las Vegas next month, Duran gave a view from his vantage point in the corner.
Wilder was getting ‘baseball bat’ style hits from Fury, almost certainly causing brain damage if he’d taken too many.
“I was looking at the other corner. But I always look at the other corner,” Stitch pointed out to the Betway Insider blog.
“I had told Sugar Hill and Andy Lee they’re going to be stopping the fight. Because the type of shots Deontay Wilder was getting causes what I would call long-term damage.
“That’s [what causes things like] dementia pugilistic. The punch-drunk syndrome.”
He continued: “They were stunning, stunning shots from Tyson. What Wilder’s coach Mark Breland did was save his career and his mentality.
“The punches were deep, and they were direct hits, like getting hit with a baseball bat. So it’s going to penetrate.
“Every time I see him hit guys, I know it hurts. But, they are the shots that penetrate deeply.”
DEONTAY WILDER MENTALITY
Questions over whether Wilder will ever fully recover, mentally and physically, from that fateful night remain after an uncharacteristic performance from the American puncher.
Did the weight differential he’s been dealing with for years finally catch up with him? – Is it too much to rely merely on power?
All of those Wilder must answer in the third installment.
However, linking up with Malik Scott, a man he defeated in 96 seconds, isn’t going to bring around a massive change. Wilder is too long in the tooth to alter his mission now.
The 35-year-old has twelve rounds [if he makes it that far] to catch Fury flush and get him out of there. If that punch doesn’t connect, he loses. It is a simple as that.
Adjusting his whole mentally at this stage in the game is a ship that sailed a few years ago for Deontay Wilder.
