Deontay Wilder

ARUM ADDRESSES WILDER’S PRESSER SILENCE: “I’D ALSO PUT HEADPHONES ON”

Bob Arum speaks on Deontay Wilder‘s claims after his second fight against Tyson Fury.

Mikey Williams/Top Rank

In only a few weeks time from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada–July 24, 2021 to be exact–Deontay Wilder will finally get the trilogy fight he’s been clamoring for and one that was contractually owed to him against Tyson Fury.

The first Wilder-Fury fight, which took place in December of 2018, ended in a disputed draw. In the February 2020 rematch, Fury defeated Wilder via TKO–seemingly putting an emphatic exclamation point on their rivalry.

But something out of the ordinary happened after Wilder’s stoppage loss–even for boxing standards–Wilder took a number of people to town not just for contributing to his loss, but for outright cheating and robbing him of a fair shake.

As the third Heavyweight clash between Fury and Wilder inches closer, many folks are interested to see how Wilder will handle the demand of this fight and if he does lose, how he will handle it.

During the Fury-Wilder 3 kick-off press conference on June 15, Wilder made a brief statement at the podium and then was silent during the Q&A portion, wearing headphones and blocking out Fury and company.

It made for a pretty dull affair.

It seemed odd to many spectators that when Wilder finally had the stage and opportunity to discuss the alleged cheating, he chose to remain silent. But to Bob Arum, after Wilder’s wild accusations, it made sense that he wouldn’t want to answer any questions about it.

“He said Breland doped his water so he couldn’t perform! That is insanity,” said Arum to Sky Sports (via BoxingScene.com). “He said the referee Kenny Bayless was drunk! Insanity. The gloves that Fury had were somehow not correct! Crazy. The gloves don’t go to anybody except the commission, they are locked up. They are put on, with all the cameras there, in the dressing room. So what is he talking about? If I said something like that I’d also put headphones on so nobody could ask me questions about it.”

Wilder says he’s done talking and seems ready to settle things with action in the ring. Should he come out on top, it could possibly start a big movement against Tyson Fury for those who agree with Wilder’s claims of glove tampering in the second fight.

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