Roy Jones Jr: ‘I feel SORRY for Deontay Wilder’

Boxingnews247.com

By Barry Holbrook

Roy Jones Jr. says he feels sorry for Deontay Wilder, and he doesn’t buy his excuse of being weakened from wearing a 45-lb costume before his rematch with Tyson Fury last Saturday night at the MGM Grand Area in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Wilder let Fury lean on him

The former 4 division world champion Jones says that it wasn’t the suit that wore Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) down, it was the 273-lb Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs), who he noted was leaning on him constantly from round 1. Jones says if Wilder HADN’T allowed Fury to lean on him with all his 273-lb weight, his legs wouldn’t have weakened.

Surprisingly, Wilder let Fury lean on him all night rather than moving away. Even when Wilder was in the center of the ring, Fury was able to grab him in a clinch, lean on him, and put him in headlocks.

The reason why Jones feels “SORRY” for Wilder is the fact that he’s gotten all this way in his career without being taught how to box, and now he’s having problems in facing a highly-skilled fighter in Fury. Still, Jones Jr. thinks Wilder has a puncher’s chance of beating Fury in their trilogy fight.

Roy believes that if Wilder can hit Fury with his right hand as he did in dropping him in the 9th and 12th round in their first fight, then he’ll be able to do it again.

Fury weakened Wilder’s legs by leaning on him – Jones Jr

“No,” said Jones to Fighthype when asked if Wilder’s 45-lb costume weakened his legs for Fury fight. “It was Fury’ 273-lbs of flesh that weakened his legs. Tyson put that 273 lbs on those legs every chance he got from round 1 to round 7. That [the costume] had nothing to do with it. If your legs are that weak, then you shouldn’t be boxing.

“I played a game of basketball before I fought. And I did everything before I fought. I got a 35 to 45 lb suit that I wear before I fight on purpose to shadowbox before I go into the ring, but I’m in shape to do that.

“But if I have a 273-lb man leaning on me because I’m letting him, then that would probably cause my legs to be weaker than normal, but I can’t use that as an excuse because if I didn’t let anyone lean on me, it wouldn’t be any problem,” said Jones.News:Deontay Wilder angered by the FOULING by Tyson Fury

It’s too bad that Roy isn’t one of Wilder’s coaches because he sounds like he could help him. You would think that Wilder’s current trainers Jay Deas and Mark Breland would have taught him simple things about not letting fighters lean on him the way Fury did, but it doesn’t look like they have. If they did teach Wilder this, then he forgot, and let Fury wear him down.

Roy Jr: It’s Wilder’s fault for wearing the suit

“You took a chance to wear that suit,” said Roy about Wilder. “That’s on you, bro. No one forced you to do that. You’ve got to take that on yourself. That’s nobody’s fault. Tyson put that 273 on him in the first round. He made him wear that 273 all night. It wasn’t the suit before the fight. It was the suit he was wearing during the fight,” said Jones Jr. on Fury leaning on Wilder with all his weight.

Jones thinks it was unprofessional on Wilder’s part not to test the suit out the day before he fought Fury so that he could wear the suit. Roy doesn’t understand how Wilder could be so irresponsible by testing the suit. Jones says he would never do what Wilder did in failing to test out a heavy suit.News:Wilder vs. Fury 2 PPV numbers hurt by illegal streaming says Matchroom boss

Fury mostly had success leaning on Wilder when he was backed up against the ropes. Had Wilder stayed in the center of the ring 90% of the time, he would have stood a better chance of winning.

Jones Jr: I feel sorry for Wilder

“The suit he was wearing during the fight was 273 lbs. That’s what the problem,” continued Jones about Fury leaning on Wilder. “I feel sorry for Wilder because they didn’t stop him before this point to teach him more about boxing. But that same power punch that put him [Fury] down in round 12 last time, if he lands that right, he can do it again, and he’ll be counted out.

“So that alone, he has a chance. He’s not going to outbox Fury, but if he can land that shot, he’s got a chance,” Roy said of Wilder. “They don’t call him Bomb squad for no reason. He earned his reputation for that name. I just feel sorry that he didn’t learn how to box with that. So if he can land that punch, he can change anything. He showed that he can put Fury down with that punch,” said Jones.

With 1984 Olympic gold medalist Breland as one of Wilder’s trainers, it’s unfathomable that he didn’t at least try to teach him a lot of things. Unfortunately, it looks like a lot of the stuff that Breland tried to teach Wilder went in one ear and out the other.

Most boxing fans agree that Wilder shouldn’t have worn that suit, period. Further, Wilder should have stayed off the ropes, and focused on trying to ambush the 273-lb Fury in the center of the ring. Wilder’s poor accuracy with his punches is one of the biggest problems he had in the rematch. When Wilder would miss a shot, Fury would then grab him and start leaning.