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Former world champion and 1984 Olympics gold medalist Mark Breland has come out swinging against his former understudy Deontay Wilder.
Breland was Wilder’s career-long co-trainer along with Jay Deas, but after the former WBC champion dropped his first career defeat to the hands of Tyson Fury last February, the “Bronze Bomber” decided to contentiously split from Breland, billing his coach, among other things, as disloyal for throwing in the towel as the Brit was bullying him the entire night with a vicious barrage.
Breland has mostly been quiet since he split with Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) in October, but the coach took a turn on his stance and clapped back against the 2008 Olympics bronze medalist.
“[Wilder’s] career is over now, I’m done, and he’s done. I’m done with him. Wilder only has his power, and we’ll see how far that takes him. That’s all I’m going to say. I wish him well and that’s it,” Breland told The Fight Is Right.
Breland also commented about Wilder’s allegations that he spiked his water.
“So many people know me, my character speaks for itself. If you’re looking at tapes or whatever and stuff like that, You don’t ever see water in my hands. And regardless of that, I’m there to help you. My attitude is, ‘When you win, I win,’” said Breland.
Breland then switched gears and offered his take on Wilder’s allegation that Fury’s gloves were compromised, and took a jab at his cohort Deas while doing so.
“If [Fury] did, I don’t know. I doubt it very much, but at the same time, he ain’t going to beat Tyson Fury,” said Breland. “Jay Deas was standing right there when the man was getting his hands wrapped. If they put something in there, either Jay’s blind or … Jay is right there when he’s getting his hands wrapped and he didn’t say anything. But to be honest, that’s how much he knows about boxing. Hell, he probably could’ve put a cast up in there and he wouldn’t have known.”
Following the loss, Wilder offered several reasons as to why he succumbed to Fury, including that his elaborate costume was too heavy and drained his legs before the fight even started.
Breland said he’s not buying Wilder’s list of excuses.
“Some people can’t take a loss, if you lose, you lose. Don’t blame everybody, go back and think about yourself,” said Breland. “Come on now, only foolish people come out with stuff like that because it’s crazy.”
Breland also gave the boxing world a behind the scenes look into Wilder’s tendencies and preparation habits in the gym.
“He don’t jump rope, he don’t hit the speed bag and he don’t hit the heavy bag,” said Breland, adding that Wilder doesn’t have a jab either.
“To fight a guy like him, I would out-jab him. I don’t think he’d be able to touch me. I’d put him to sleep, the jab can bang that chin and put you down.
“If I boxed the guys he boxed, I’d beat them. That’s the bottom line. You say he had some ‘good wins’? A good win. Just that [Luis Ortiz] fight, that was it.”
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, via email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com or on www.ManoukAkopyan.com