On Feb. 5, former Deontay Wilder co-trainer Mark Breland spoke out against Wilder’s past comments and made some damaging claims of his own.
Super Bowl weekend was slow for boxing, but former Deontay Wilder co-trainer Mark Breland fought back for the first time against Wilder’s previous delusional allegations and took some shots of his own.
On the Friday and Saturday before Super Bowl LV, BKFC: Kucklemania and UFC Vegas 18 dominated the combat sports scene. There were some fringe boxing cards, but Breland speaking in-depth publicly for the first time since his rift with former WBC heavyweight champion Wilder was the verbal war of the weekend.
Breland has been on the outs with Wilder ever since he threw in the towel in round 7 to save Wilder from a massive beating by Tyson Fury on Feb. 22, 2020. During the post-fight press conference, Wilder received medical attention while head trainer Jay Deas addressed reporters.
At the time, Deas discussed Wilder’s ring walk outfit and how its weight may have impacted Wilder. He also disagreed with Breland’s decision to throw in the towel. Having covered the fight live, Breland’s decision was absolutely the right move and could have saved Wilder from serious injury.
The excuses from Wilder and his camp have been ludicrous, bizarre, and straight out nuts. They’ve claimed that Fury’s hands were improperly positioned in his gloves, Fury fought with loaded gloves, Breland was coerced into throwing in the towel early by Anthony Dirrell at ringside, and Breland may have spiked Wilder’s water. Wilder reiterated some of these claims on Barbershop Conversation’s YouTube channel.
In October, ESPN reported that Breland was officially out as Wilder’s co-trainer after speaking to Wilder’s co-manager, Shelly Finkel.
In November, Breland turned to social media to deny Wilder’s allegations. He further broke his silence during an interview on Feb. 5 with the Fight is Right YouTube show.
Breland’s comments caught some boxing fans and pundits by surprise. Some thought he was unwise for speaking about against Wilder’s claims, but Breland had every right to defend himself and his name. Yes, some of his points were subjective and, at times, eccentric, but others had merit.
Breland knows a thing or two about boxing. He won the Gold medal at the 1984 Olympic games, was an amateur world champion, and was a welterweight world champion as a professional, retiring with a record of 35-3-1, with 25 KOs.
Breland was brought in by Wilder’s head trainer Jay Deas to help improve Wilder’s technique and overall boxing game. Deas sought out Breland because of his boxing knowledge and wisdom. Sadly, Breland has turned into Wilder’s scapegoat for his failure against Fury.
One of the claims Breland made on the Fight is Right is that Wilder didn’t train well. That might sound like an oxymoron coming from Breland, but you have to remember that Breland was Wilder’s co-trainer. Deas oversees and implements most of the training decisions regarding Wilder.
“He don’t jump rope, he don’t hit the speed bag, and he don’t hit the heavy bag,” said Breland on the Fight is Right (via Boxingscene.com).
Having visited Wilder’s camp on three occasions, I saw anecdotal evidence that tends to back up Breland’s statement to a point. Deas once told me that Wilder doesn’t use the speed bag. I did see Wilder take a few shots at the speed bag during a photoshoot, but his brief performance on it showed that it was an exercise he rarely practiced.
Former Deontay Wilder co-trainer Mark Breland offered a stinging assessment of Wilder’s boxing ability
Even if Wilder didn’t practice those specific exercises, that doesn’t mean he didn’t train. On the days I saw Wilder in action, he worked hard for three to four hours and was drenched in sweat.
Breland’s argument seems to be that Wilder’s training regimen was poorly organized and that he should have been doing the exercises he listed. Breland was utilized for his boxing knowledge, not necessarily for the application of drills and workouts. Deas had command over training duties, and Wilder obviously had a choice in what path to follow.
This is not the first time Breland has been critical of Wilder’s boxing skillset. He told The Undefeated in 2018 that Wilder’s skills were limited and that he relied on power for success.
“He’s at about where I was at 11,” Breland told The Undefeated.
He added, “But you gotta remember, he’s a heavyweight in today’s era. And you seen how he can punch. If you can bang? Hell, that’s enough now. And you seen what his right hand can do. He can bang.”
Breland repeated those points on the Fight is Right, but with a more critical tone and added slights to Wilder. His criticisms of Wilder’s training routine falls more on Deas and shows fissures between Breland and Deas that have probably been present for some time but that he didn’t have the courage to express until now.
On the other side, this isn’t the first time Wilder has rubbed a former member of his training team the wrong way. For a long time in his career, Russ Anber worked as Wilder’s cutman and assistant trainer. He added to Wilder’s training, worked mitts, and helped craft fight strategy.
Sometime after Wilder won the title, Anber was no longer a member of team Wilder. From what Deas told me then, Anber offered up a critique to Wilder, and Wilder took offense. The two had words, and that was the end of their relationship.
In 2018, during a press conference for a fight card in Chicago, I ran into Anber, who was working with Artur Beterbiev. I asked him what really went down between him and Wilder.
“Jeremy, Deontay is not a good person,” said Anber.
The press conference was about to begin, and I intended to catch up with Anber to get the full story, but we never reconnected due to the day’s boxing events.
I’ve always found Wilder to be funny, likable, charismatic, and giving with his time from my experience. He’s the hardest punching heavyweight in the world and has talent, but his inability to accept responsibility for his loss against Fury is perplexing.
Deas is the most loyal person in Wilder’s professional life and a friend and confidante in his personal life. He deals with Wilder from the heart, but sometimes emotional connections blind us from logic and reality.
Someone needs to be real with Wilder and convince him that he lost fair and square. Until he accepts reality, he can’t do what’s necessary to try and work himself into title contention. Breland’s comments offer up thoughts on what needs to change if Wilder wants to improve. If he keeps doing the same old thing, then he doesn’t stand a chance of progressing as a boxer.