Deontay Wilder on trainer Breland- “Still part of Team Wilder”

Former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder is still smarting from his first professional defeat last Saturday night. However, despite his own speculation that he might be getting rid of his trainer, Wilder gave him a vote of confidence Friday night.

Wilder released a brief statement on the status of Mark Breland, the former two time World welterweight champion and Olympic gold medalist, who’s been in his corner for his entire championship run:

Statement from ⁦@BronzeBomber⁩ on ⁦@MarkBreland⁩ pic.twitter.com/pmGiNfZROe

— Kevin Iole (@KevinI) February 29, 2020

Speculation had been swirling this week that Wilder would drop Breland from his team, especially after Breland threw in the towel for the fight to be stopped in the seventh round last Saturday night in Wilder’s lost to Tyson Fury.

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Wilder could clearly be seen questioning Breland when he said twice, “Why did you do that?,” as the fight was stopped.

Further, the former unbeaten heavyweight champ fueled the speculation that he would dump Breland, when had told several media members on Monday that he had expressly had conversations with Breland and his other trainer Jay Deas, about not stopping fights that he was involved in.

He told Iole, then,

“I am upset with Mark for the simple fact that we’ve talked about this many times and it’s not emotional,” Wilder said. “It is not an emotional thing, it’s a principal thing. We’ve talked about this situation many, many years before this even happened. I said as a warrior, as a champion, as a leader, as a ruler, I want to go out on my shield. If I’m talking about going in and killing a man, I respect the same way. I abide by the same principal of receiving.

Wilder was clearly shaken up after a third-round knockdown by Fury with a punch that glanced his shoulder and the back of the left side of his head. He was on wobbly legs throughout the remainder of the fight, and was also bleeding from his left ear. However, that turned out to only be a cut and not perforated eardrum.

Wilder has already publicly said he wants his contractual rematch for third fight with Fury later this summer. It’s believed that third fight will take place in July.

Breland, a 1984 Olympic Gold Medalist who is low-key and soft-spoken, is highly regarded as a trainer and has been with in Wilder’s corner. since he won the WBC belt in January of 2015.

Deas actually replaced Breland as the “voice in front” of Wilder for the first time in the fight in between the sixth and seventh rounds imploring Wilder to get aggressive in the fateful seventh round. Fury eventually cornered Wilder, hitting him with a couple of shots, while Wilder tried to keep his guard up and then, the towel came in.