‘For my tribe’: Wilder promises ‘special’ ring-walk for Fury trilogy – despite blaming last defeat on outfit being TOO HEAVY

Deontay Wilder says that he will debut another theatrical outfit for his ring-walk ahead of the trilogy fight with Tyson Fury despite blaming his defeat in their rematch last year on a similar outfit which he said weighed 40lbs.

Wilder, 35, has long been known for wearing extravagant costumes to the ring throughout his ascent to the top of the heavyweight rankings but 'The Bronze Bomber' admitted after their fight in February 2020 that the weighty costume he wore to the ring which painted him as a sort of apocalyptic warrior complete with a horned helmet, glowing red eyes and human skulls adorning his armor – but it didn't quite have the desired impact. 

In the bout, which was the first defeat of the American's 44-fight career, Wilder struggled to contain an aggressive Fury en route to being finished in the seventh round when his ex-trainer Mark Breland threw in the towel.

But despite Breland being run out of the camp shortly afterwards for this perceived indiscretion, Wilder says that he will again be adorned with some theatrical garb as he looks to score a measure of revenge against his British rival.

"All of my fights have – well, since I became champion, you know, nobody has come out with a better dress, better uniform than I have," Wilder said to BoxingScene.

"And we're going to continue with that. We'll just have to see what I put on. It's going to be something special. It's going to be something that I dedicate to my people, my tribe. So you can look forward to seeing it."

Some, though, see this as an unnecessary tempting of fate – particularly after Wilder's excuses for his below par performance in his second fight with Fury. 

In the days after their rematch last year, Wilder spoke of how he felt the 40lb outfit he wore to the ring wore him out and that he "didn't have no legs" once the first bell rang.

"I didn't have no legs from the beginning of the fight. In the third round, my legs were just shot all the way through," Wilder opined. "But I'm a warrior and people know that I'm a warrior. It could easily be told that I didn't have legs or anything.

"When I first tried it on, I saw it had some type of weight to it, but during that time you get so excited and you want people to see it. But we immediately started feeling, 'Alright, we're going to have to put this uniform on a certain amount of time before we go out,' even if we had to delay it a little bit, before putting it on," he explained.

"But our timing wasn't perfect. We still had the uniform on about 10 to 15 minutes before walking out. And I was walking around with it. I just didn't have the helmet on.

"And when I put the helmet on and started walking out, it was a long ring walk. Due to the circumstances I was under, it immediately just drained my legs. And then you're talking about walking up the stairs [to the ring] with it on. 

"It was almost like a workout. I didn't think it would affect me that much. But it affected me more than what I expected. Then, by him coming and leaning his body on me and pushing me down and putting me in headlocks, that played a part in affecting my legs as well."

While there is as of yet no indication if Wilder's ring-walk costume will be quite as weighty this time around, fight fans have hit out at his decision to embrace pageantry when they say his full focus should be on extracting revenge from the unbeaten Fury.

"Apparently Deontay Wilder is planning to wear 'something special' to the ring again when he fights Tyson Fury. He's obviously forgotten about the litany of costume-related excuses he produced last time they fought," said one fan in response to the news.

"Just wear you pyjamas because you’ll be going to sleep in the ring," advised another.

"Might wanna put a little more into his actual boxing skill than ring-entrance outfits," said a third.