If I were advising Deontay Wilder, I would have told him to come into the ring like Mike Tyson did back in the day.
Black shorts, black shoes, and a towel over his head. To me, that would have told the world this is all business, and he was ready to knock Tyson Fury’s head off. Alas, that won’t be the case. I don’t really mind him getting a new costume, but please, NO EXCUSES if you lose.
You have had plenty of time to try out the costume.
After about an hour, it was time for Wilder to do what he came for: see for the first time and try on the walkout gear he will be wearing for the third Fury fight.
“We go in the back, open the door, and we reveal the costume,” Lombino said. “And he’s like, ‘Oh my god.’ He was so grateful. … He was so happy. He was like the kid in the candy store again.”
Lombino and Crowley, who have dressed the likes of Shaquille O’Neal, Claressa Shields, and Shawn Porter, created a trilogy fight costume for Wilder that is partly inspired by the fighter’s roots, which he says go back to Nigeria’s Edo tribe.
Lombino and Crowley worked with an African studies specialist and had fabric shipped from Africa to make the outfit, which will heavily utilize the colors black and red. Wilder called the piece a “beautiful masterpiece.”
What is interesting in this story beyond him having a new costume is that he admits the old costume wasn’t an issue and caused him to lose the fight.
He blames Mark Breland (who he seems to blame for everything) for creating that narrative, even though Wilder had all the quotes about the outfit.
Lombino said he and Crowley were “mortified” by Wilder, saying their costume affected his performance. But two days after he left the hospital post-fight, Wilder did a FaceTime call with them, and they talked it through. Wilder blamed his coach, Mark Breland, the designers said, for creating the heavy costume narrative.
That is just a bald-faced lie.
These were Wilder’s own words after the fight, Breland didn’t force him to say this.
“I paid a severe price because my legs were how they were because of my uniform,” Wilder said. “My uniform was way too heavy. It was 40-plus pounds. We had it on 10 or 15 minutes before we even walked out and then put the helmet on. That was extra weight, then the ring walk, then going up the stairs. It was like a real workout for my legs. When I took it off, I knew immediately that the game had changed.”
I hope Wilder, in time, realizes he really did Breland dirty.
Flip the page for Wilder’s ring entrance.