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 pain threshold allowed him to fight with the injured arm, but the outcome was bad for him, with him losing both bouts.
Wilder does not say whether 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 club punches. .
Fury didn’t look like anything special, but Wilder was far worse. He made Fury look golden instead of what he is, an aging, limited club-level fighter with just one notable win against a washed-up 39-year-old Wladimir Klitschko.
The bronze bomber’s broken arm excuse
Deontay has lost four of his last five fightsand his career is on its last legs. He is unlikely to be selected for any further Riyadh season events after being knocked out by Zhang in the fifth round on June 1. Wilder looked timid and slanted against Zhang and Parker. If it 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 craftsman-level competition rather than jumping right in with a top contender. It would be a good idea for Wilder to dump his trainer, Malik Scottwho 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 this is his career, and it will likely continue to sink under Malik’s watch.
“I broke my arm sometime in November. 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 (confused) there; I didn’t know because I have a high tolerance for pain,” said Deontay Wilder 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, seeing it as an example of a fighter unwilling to face the bitter truth about his dire career situation. Since those two losses to Fury, Wilder has been timid and no longer fights with the same aggression he once did.
It would have played out better if Wilder had she hurriedly closed and nothing said that he had 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 up. Fans have already said how bad Wilder has looked in his three fights with Fury, and there’s nothing he can say about those fights.
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
“It’s a conversation I want to get into and talk about,” Wilder said of the possible Francis Ngannou fight.
It is unclear which promoter will fund a fight between Wilder and the 38-year-old Ngannou, as Turki Alalshikh is unlikely to 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 by Anthony Joshua in the second round on March 8 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.
