By Ponciano "John" Melo Jr.
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Throwing the towel to the canvass means surrender in boxing and that is the least any boxer, much more Deontay Wilder, would want to happen to end a fight at his expense.
But during his rematch against Tyson Fury where he found himself getting beaten up badly by his rival, his Trainor on the sideline Mark Breland threw in the white towel as referee Kenny Bayless stopped the fight in the seventh round.
Wilder was shocked and confused about the decision as he felt he can still go on. It was an uncanny ending for the known one-punch knockout artist but made no excuses for losing to the greater man of the night.
“Things like this happen. The best man won tonight,” Wilder said shortly after the stoppage.
“But my trainor, my side throwing the towel, you know I'm ready to go out of my shield, man.”
“I made no excuses tonight. I just wished that my corner would've let me went out of my shield. I'm a warrior and that's what I do. But it is what it is, I made no excuses and we come back stronger,” he stressed out.
And during the post-fight press conference where Wilder skipped as he was rushed into the hospital, his head coach and trainer Jay Deas agreed to his fighter.
“Mark throw the towel. I didn't think he should have. Deontay Wilder is the kind of guy that goes out of the shield. He will tell you straight up to throw up the towel in,” Deas told the press as he explained why Breland called the surrender and not him.
He also believed Wilder can still turn the tides around with his strong right hand that knocked 41 opponents out on his 42 wins.
“Deontay is a fearsome puncher. That's always a difficult thing because he does always have that shot to land a big shot and turned things around,” he added.
Nonetheless, the corner accepted their fighter’s first professional defeat. They are also in high hopes that there will be a trilogy with Fury as both corners already have mutual interest for another faceoff.
But it will not happen as quickly as they wanted it to be as Wilder still needs to recover from the injury.
“He had a small cut inside the ear, it may have affect his equilibrium so will get a couple of stitches there. That's the extent of it,” Deas said.
The trainor also added that Wilder will have its come back a little longer as they plan to have their rest after consecutive fights.
“It was grueling fight with a tough grueling fighter. So coming from two fights in a row, November and February, which he loves to be active. But this will give him some time to enjoy things, enjoy his family and rest up a little bit. I think that is the next step.”
