Costume Designer Defends Product Amid Deontay Wilder Criticism
The designer of Deontay Wilder’s fight night costume vs. Tyson Fury has dismissed his claim it affected his performance. Wilder had previously blamed his heavy costume for causing a poor display and ultimately his first career loss.
The Creative Director at Suzi Wong, Melissa Anglesea has now jumped to the defence of her product. Speaking to BBC Radio Five Live she rubbished Wilder’s claims and said the costume made no difference to his performance or the end result.
“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.
“”We’ve made stuff for heavyweight fighters including Dillian Whyte that are super heavy because we’ve used thousands of crystals – we used on a costume for Whyte that we made – and it was super heavy, but he knocked Dereck Chisora out when he wore that costume.” (Transcribed by Sportsbible)
On Monday former WBC champion Wilder told media he’d definitely be triggering his rematch clause with Fury. He explained that he was never actually hurt by his opponent, however he did admit his legs were compromised from wearing the heavy costume during his ring walk.
“He didn’t hurt me at all, but the simple fact is… that my uniform was way too heavy for me.
“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.
“It could easily be told that I didn’t have legs or anything. 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.
“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.”
Do you think Deontay Wilder‘s costume played any part in his loss to Tyson Fury?
