Former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay, ‘The Bronze Bomber’ Wilder, revealed in an interview that he fought with a broken arm in his last two fights, both losses to Joseph Parker and Zhilei Zhang.
The 39-year-old Wilder (43-4-1, 42 KOs) says his threshold for pain allowed him to fight with the injured arm, but the outcomes were bad for him, with him losing both contests.
Wilder doesn’t say if his arm gave him problems in his two knockout losses to Tyson Fury in 2020 and 2021. Those two fights also went badly for Wilder against a very beatable Fury, who didn’t do much other than lean and clubbing punches.
Fury looked like nothing special, but Wilder was far worse. He made Fury look golden instead of what he is, an aging, limited club-level fighter with only one notable win against a washed 39-year-old Wladimir Klitschko.
The Bronze Bomber’s Broken Arm Excuse
Deontay has lost four out of his last five fights, and his career is on its last legs. It’s unlikely he’ll be chosen for any further Riyadh Season events after being knocked out in the fifth round by Zhang on June 1st. Wilder looked timid and gunshy against Zhang and Parker. If that was because of his injured arm, it still doesn’t explain why Fury destroyed him twice.
If Wilder wants to rebuild for big fights, he needs to get some wins under his belt against journeymen-level competition rather than jumping straight in with a top contender. It would be a good idea for Wilder to dump his trainer, Malik Scott, who has been with him since 2021. Wilder is 1-3 since hiring Scott, and that’s reason enough for him to give the trainer the boot. Wilder probably won’t, but it’s his career, and it will likely continue to sink under Malik’s watch.
“I broke my arm way back in November sometime. I didn’t know. I had two tears on my shoulder. I could feel the pain, but I just thought it was old injuries. But I got an MRI, and everything was [messed] up there; I didn’t know because I’ve got a high tolerance for pain,” said Deontay Wilder to TMZ Sports about fighting with an injured arm for his last two fights against Zhilei Zhang and Joseph Parker.
Fans aren’t buying Wilder’s injury excuse, viewing this as an example of a fighter unwilling to face the bitter truth about his dire career situation. Since those two defeats against Fury, Wilder has been timid and not longer fighting with the same aggression that he once did.
It would have played out better if Wilder had kept his yap shut and not said anything about having an injured arm for his last two fights. The injury excuse just makes him sound pathetic, and he’s trying to convince fans that he’s not washed. Fans already said how bad Wilder looked in his three fights with Fury, and there’s nothing he can say about those matches.
From this point on, Wilder should let his actions speak for themselves instead of blaming his frequent defeats on this or that. According to Forbes, Wilder’s net worth is $46.5 million. With that kind of dough, he doesn’t need to whitewash the results of his recent fights.
Ngannou A Possibility
“That’s a conversation that I’m looking to get in and talk about,” said Wilder about potentially fighting Francis Ngannou.
It’s unclear which promoter would finance a fight between Wilder and the 38-year-old Ngannou because it’s unlikely Turki Alalshikh will be interested in putting that fight on one of his Riyadh Season events.
A young version of Wilder would be a nightmare for Ngannou, who looked terrible getting knocked out in the second round by Anthony Joshua on March 8th in Riyadh. If Wilder is afraid to throw his right for fear of being countered, he won’t last long against Ngannou because this guy can punch.
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