Deontay Wilder reveals biceps injury, says Tyson Fury not yet champion

Deontay Wilder spoke cryptically during an interview on The PBC Podcast.

The former heavyweight champion was careful not to make excuses for his knockout loss to Tyson Fury on Feb. 22 after he was criticized for blaming the costume he wore into the ring. And while he indicated that he carried additional detrimental baggage into the ring, he wouldn’t say what it was other than to rail against the crooked nature of boxing.

Wilder did talk openly about a few things, though.

One, he revealed that a biceps injured suffered in the rematch with Fury required surgery. He said he’s recovering from the operation and won’t be able to train until sometime next month.

Two, he said he doesn’t recognize Fury as the heavyweight champion because they still have unfinished business. They are scheduled to fight a third time before the end of the year, although the exact date is unclear in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

And, three, he made it clear that he intends to come back stronger than he was before his setback.

Wilder wouldn’t reveal in the interview exactly what was hanging over his head but he repeated that he wasn’t himself, which even Fury suggested might be the case. He mentioned more than once that he went into retreat mode at the opening bell, which isn’t characteristic of him.

“There are a lot of things I don’t want to talk about at this moment in time,” he said. “… I’ve been in the sport for a very long time. People have seen me fight all over the world for a very long time. So People automatically know how I am, how I should look.

“People that know boxing know that it wasn’t Deontay Wilder that night. I was a zombie that night. Like I said, I can’t talk about a lot of things, but it wasn’t Deontay Wilder that night. … [From] the first fight into the second fight it was two different people.

”… It was like I wasn’t even there, for real. I don’t know how to say it. I wasn’t there. That’s all I can tell you. From the … start, I wasn’t there, my whole body, everything. But everything is going to be alright, trust me.”

Wilder didn’t suggest he lost the fight because of the biceps injury but he mentioned it without saying which arm was injured and when it happened.

He said he’s healing nicely and looks forward to getting back in the gym. In the meantime, he’s enjoying time with his family in Alabama during lock down.

“Recovery is going well,” he said. “I’m in therapy. I ended up injuring it during my last fight, somewhere up in there. But everything is going great with it. I’m just focusing on recovery, getting myself back to full health, getting ready, hopefully, when this coronavirus is out of the way, getting back to camp and getting ready to go again sometime at the end of the year.”

He was referring to his third fight with Fury. Fury took Wilder’s alphabet title – and established himself as the top heavyweight – as a result of his seventh-round knockout in Las Vegas, but Wilder obviously believes that the fate of neither fighter has been settled.

“We can only get stronger, learn from a lot of situations and get better and better,” Wilder said. “It’s not over. In my eyes I don’t see Fury as champion. It’s still going. He ain’t champion yet. We still have got one more fight left.”