Deontay Wilder seems to be plucking excuses from thin air and blaming anything he can think of for his comprehensive defeat by Tyson Fury.
The previously unbeaten American was manhandled by his heavyweight rival in Las Vegas last Saturday, but is not taking the loss graciously.
Here, Sportsmail takes a look at all the excuses Wilder has come up with so far, ranging from the ill-advised to the ridiculous.
Deontay Wilder was well beaten by Tyson Fury in Las Vegas but has not taken the defeat well
It was Mark Breland’s fault
Having seen his man dominated, knocked down on multiple occasions and pummelled by the Gypsy King, Wilder’s trainer Breland threw in the towel with the Bronze Bomber on the ropes and a barrage of punches heading his way.
Head trainer Jay Deas has since been vocal in his disagreement of Breland’s decision and Wilder was furious he couldn’t end the fight on his own terms, even if that proved to be detrimental to his health.
The American raged: ‘We had many discussions for years about this situation and for him to still do it after Jay told him not to do it really hurt me.
Mark Breland (pictured in the background) was blamed for prematurely throwing in the towel
‘And then I heard he was influenced by another fighter in the audience and it makes a lot of conspiracy theories in your head why he did it. It didn’t make sense.’
‘I am upset with Mark for the simple fact that we’ve talked about this many times and it’s not emotional,’ he added to Yahoo Sports
‘It is not an emotional thing, it’s a principle thing. We’ve talked about this situation many, many years before this even happened. I said as a warrior, as a champion, as a leader, as a ruler, I want to go out on my shield.
‘So I told my team to never, ever, no matter what it may look like, to never throw the towel in with me because I’m a special kind. I still had five rounds left. No matter what it looked like, I was still in the fight.
‘I understand he was looking out for me and trying to do what he felt was right, but this is my life and my career and he has to accept my wishes.’
Wilder has since spoken of his intention to sack Breland from his team.
The Bronze Bomber was handed the first defeat of his professional career by Fury
He was carrying a leg injury
Having taken aim at his team, Wilder then made the excuse that he was unable to fight at his best due to a pre-existing injury.
Despite Fury’s sensational, aggressive performance forcing the champion to box on the back foot, Wilder says he was already compromised.
‘I had a lot of things going on coming into the fight. My leg was already wrecked coming in due to other things.’
The beaten man is yet to elaborate on what those ‘other things’ might be, which seems strange given the willingness to speak about a host of other possible reasons he came up short.
The 34-year-old said he was already unstable due to a leg injury picked up before the fight
The ring-walk costume was too heavy
This one is the pick of the bunch. Wilder has a God-like physique, is one of the most intimidating men on the planet and is an elite level athlete.
And yet the 34-year-old produced arguably the most pathetic excuse of all time by claiming his costume weighed too much and shattered him before he’d even thrown a punch.
He said: ‘The simple fact is my uniform was way too heavy for me.
Wilder also said the outfit he wore to the ring was too heavy and drained his energy
‘I was only able to put it on (for the first time) the night before, but I didn’t think it was going to be that heavy. It weighed 40, 40-some pounds with the helmet and all the batteries. I wanted my tribute to be great for Black History Month. I wanted it to be good and I guess I put that before anything.
‘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. But I’m a warrior and people know that I’m a warrior.
Wilder added: ‘A lot of people were telling me, “It looked like something was wrong with you”. Something was, but when you’re in the ring you have to bluff a lot of things. I tried my best to do so. I knew I didn’t have the legs because of my uniform.
‘Going up the stairs (into the ring) I knew immediately it was a different change in my body condition. After the second round I had no legs, period.’
The costume weighed three stone but Wilder argued it sapped his legs en route to the ring
The response
Clearly Wilder opened himself up to some taunts with the costume excuse and he received plenty of criticism online.
Eddie Hearn said: ‘I thought it was a wind-up. He’s obviously got the worst PR team in history. It’s just bizarre.’
YouTuber Logan Paul, tweeted: ‘Deontay Wilder is a beast. In fact, I thought he was going to win. But him blaming his horrible performance on the WEIGHT of his walk-out costume is the equivalent of me waking up and sneezing three times.’
Eddie Hearn, like many online, thought Wilder’s excuse about the costume was laughable
Melissa Anglesea, who helped design Tyson Fury’s walk-in costume told BBC Radio 5 Live: ‘Let’s be honest – from a man that’s six foot seven and weighs what Wilder does, a three-stone costume makes absolutely no ounce of difference.’
Bellator fighter Dillon Danis added: ‘I have so much respect for Deontay Wilder but that costume excuse is so weak nobody made you wear that just take the loss like a man and come back stronger.’
And heavyweight Dave Allen posted: ‘I’m a big Deontay Wilder fan, a total gent on the few occasions I’ve been in his presence and been to the top of the boxing world but what’s more daft wearing a 3 stone costume to the ring or getting rid of Mark Breland I just don’t get either if they are the case.’
Other excuses
As if he hadn’t already cast enough blame around, Wilder has continued to dig out other reasons for the defeat.
He claimed: ‘Fury didn’t even hurt me’, which seems an astonishing statement to make given the effect the new WBC champion’s punches had on his bloodied face and ear.
Heavyweights are rarely floored by body shots but the one Fury sent Wilder to the canvas with almost took the American off his feet.
It seems the knockout artists is intent on blaming his camp too, adding: ‘I’m ready to fight him again this summer with no fights in between.
‘I’m a warrior and I’m ready to go again, but we’re going to change a lot of things in camp.’
Fury claimed a TKO victory in the seventh round of the huge clash in Las Vegas