Tyson Fury Praises Anthony Joshua’s Handling Of Defeat Compared To Deontay Wilder

WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury remains concerned about the mental well-being of Deontay Wilder.

Wilder has recently come out with a number of different and wild excuses for his defeat to Fury earlier this year. While Fury was angered by one in particular — that he allegedly cheated in both their fights — to the point where he claimed he would never give the American a rematch, he also expressed concern about Wilder’s mental state.

Wilder has since responded telling Fury not to worry about him and instead honor their agreement for a trilogy fight. For now, Fury is still seemingly set to face Agit Kabayel in a homecoming clash on December 5 while Wilder’s team have taken their dispute over a trilogy fight to a mediator.

But as far as Wilder is concerned, Fury — who has dealt with mental health issues of his own in the past — believes he should still seek a bit of help.

“After seeing all his excuses lately and that he’s still holding on to these malice feelings and opinions that people have cheated him. His trainers have cheated him, I had weights in my gloves, his costume was too heavy, he had a bicep injury, I’ve run out of ideas of what other excuses a man could make in a defeat in boxing. To keep coming out with these accusations, I was quite concerned and I still am for his mental well-being,” Fury told the talkSPORT Breakfast Show on Thursday.

“First he doesn’t speak or say anything for eight months, and all of a sudden he’s coming out with all this stuff. I don’t know who is advising him or who is around him, but I think, in my opinion, he needs to seek a bit of help himself. To keep going on like he’s going on is unsportsmanlike and it’s a sure sign of mental health problems.

“Nobody wants to get beat, especially after a 12-year unbeaten streak, but there has to be a point where you let a defeat go. In sport, teams lose, boxers lose, everyone’s gonna lose now and again. If it’s more than a sporting contest to you and you’re gonna take it to your grave with you, all this hatred and bad feelings, I don’t think you should be doing it. Wilder’s now, after I’ve come out and said I’m concerned for his mental well-being, maybe he saw that and he’s put that tweet out.”

Fury then pointed to the example of current unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and how he took his loss to Andy Ruiz Jr. last year.

Despite being domestic rivals and slated to face each other next year, “The Gypsy King” praised Joshua for how he handled his first professional setback.

“Very class. Listen, we’re rivals and we have been for a long time but I’ve gotta speak truthfully and honestly. You’re a world heavyweight champion and you take a loss – he handled it like a man,” Fury added. “He handled it very sportsmanlike, took it in his stride. He knew he made a mistake and that was it. He didn’t say why, he didn’t make a million excuses, I didn’t hear any excuses from him himself at all, none. He just said, ‘Well done, congratulations, I’ll see you next time.’

“And I would hope that I could conduct myself like that as well if that happened to me. We’ve seen it so many times over the years with the likes of Wilder’s excuses and David Haye’s excuses. Everybody who loses a fight, for whatever reason, they always come out and say something like, ‘Oh, I had a bad foot, a bad elbow, a shoulder operation.’ And I just think, if you’re going into a big fight with these injuries, either don’t take the fight and have it postponed, or don’t mention it afterwards.

“Don’t try and take somebody else’s glory away from their victory. And I’ve gotta take my hat off to AJ, he didn’t. He just said, ‘Look, I got beat by the better man on the night, fair play.’ I thought that was class.”

What do you make of Fury’s comments?