Mark Breland has finally broken his silence to hit back at criticism from his former protege Deontay Wilder.
Breland, long-time trainer of ‘The Bronze Bomber’, separated from the former WBC heavyweight king late last year.
It was a divorce which had been long anticipated since Wilder suffered his first professional defeat. That loss to Tyson Fury in February 2020 was followed by a string of excuses and complaints from Deontay.
Breland threw in the towel to signal Wilder’s stoppage in round seven at the MGM Grand, something it appears his fighter never forgave him for. It prompted a string of wild allegations.
Now Breland, himself a former Olympic and world champion, has finally responded – and had his say about Wilder’s past, present and future.
Breland done with Wilder
Appearing on the Fight is Right podcast, he said: “My whole thing with Deontay is part of boxing I guess. His career is done now, I’m done and he’s done, I’m done with him.”
Wilder (42-1-1) has always been known for his frightening knockout power, but also his lack of technical skills. Something Breland alluded to.
“He’s only got his power and we’ll see how far that takes him. That’s all I’m going to say.
“I’d been working with him since he turned pro and nothing had happened until [the loss to Fury].
“Some people cant take a loss; don’t blame everybody else, go back and think about yourself.”
Wilder out in the cold
Wilder now faces a long time in the world heavyweight title wilderness. Fury and Anthony Joshua currently own all the major belts. Fury is the WBC king while AJ possesses the IBF, WBA and WBO titles.
They are set to meet twice this year – first in June (likely in the Middle East) with an immediate rematch. Oleksandr Usyk and Joe Joyce are likely to meet for the WBO interim title in April, and the winner is then expected to get a shot at the Fury vs Joshua victor.
That means the titles are set to be off limits for quite some time – bad news for Wilder. He had been scheduled for a trilogy match with Fury last year but time ran out and Fury announced he was “moving on”.