Former WBC world heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) caused a stir this past weekend when he emerged from an eight month exile, accusing Tyson Fury of cheating in their February rematch, before revealing he had parted company with ‘disloyal’ trainer Mark Breland.
Breland, a former Olympic gold medalist and world welterweight champion, came under scrutiny in the wake of Wilder’s seventh round stoppage loss to Tyson Fury after throwing in the towel with Wilder on the end of a thoroughly one-sided beating.
Despite receiving widespread praise for sparing his charge further punishment, Breland was cast aside and, in an extraordinary outburst on social media, accused of ‘spiking’ the former champion’s water bottle.
With Wilder previously hinting at a change in training set-up, former pound-for-pound star Floyd Mayweather offered his services to ‘The Bronze Bomber’, stating that he could hold the key to redemption in a trilogy bout.
However, Wilder quashed the suggestion in a recent interview with Barbershop Conversation, labelling the attempt by Mayweather as ‘fake’ and ‘for publicity’.
“My thing is, every fighter I’ve fought, Floyd has bet against me. It ain’t even for me to discuss. Even with Mark [Breland], I need [a trainer], Mark ain’t on the team no more. Nobody had anything good to say about my trainers before, but all of a sudden, you need him.” Wilder told Barbershop Conversations.
“All this time, and all of a sudden now? Why? I don’t need anybody. I’ve made it all this far. Why do I need to change up anything? Of course, we need to replace, and you’re going to see what it is. But nobody has reached out to me.
“It’s publicity. When I see people do that stuff, it’s for publicity. But to the offer [from Mayweather], thank you, but no thank you. I don’t feel any love from that man. Their actions don’t show that. It’s fake love to me, but they know that themselves. They can’t look me in the eyes and tell me they care about me and want to see me do well.
“They can’t look me in the eyes and be sincere about that because I would feel them. They can’t do that because they know it’s not real. It’s not. It’s for publicity.”