Mike Tyson Says Deontay Wilder Needs To “Grow Up”

By James Slater - 03/28/2020 - Comments

Wilder Can Beat Tyson Fury “If He Wants To Dedicate His Life To Really Winning This Fight”

Former heavyweight king Mike Tyson was unable to avenge any of his six career losses (to Buster Douglas, Tyson never given the opportunity, to Evander Holyfield, and to Danny Williams, Lennox Lewis and Kevin McBride, Tyson not facing either of these three men a second time) – but “The Baddest Man On The Planet” feels former WBC champ Deontay Wilder can avenge his stoppage loss to Tyson Fury. Providing Wilder “grows up” and providing he “wants to dedicate his life to really winning this fight.”

Tyson, these days selling marijuana and also appearing on stage in his one-man show, was a guest on Fat Joe’s instagram live over the weekend, and the 53 year old said Wilder must not give up.

“Listen, he didn’t fight the same fight he fought the first time. The first fight he fought with confidence like he could win,” Tyson said. “The second fight he fought like he didn’t have no zest, no life in him. I just don’t think he was the same fighter after the first fight. He couldn’t rise to that occasion again. It just depends how much they want to give in to it. If he wants to dedicate his life to really winning this fight, anything can happen. Deontay Wilder can still make a lot of money. He shouldn’t feel sad or discouraged. He should continue to go out there and fight with a lot of zest and confidence. He’s feeling like he’s given up. ‘Oh, my life is over. I made $90 million so far but my life is over.’ Grow up, man, let’s just keep going through this until it’s really over.”

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We have no real idea when the third, contracted fight will take place (October 3 is the current working date but no-one knows how long this highly serious fight against coronavirus will last), but whenever it happens it will take one huge effort from Wilder if he’s to avenge the February 22 hammering he suffered. Can he do it? It does look doubtful. Or maybe Wilder has greatness in him, and maybe he can put in the work, get back his confidence and provide a shock of his own in fight-three.

It’s tough to know what Wilder’s state of mind is right now; maybe he is feeling sorry for himself, as Tyson suggests, or maybe Wilder is hard at work in the gym doing all he can to put things right. In the interest of seeing a good, competitive fight in October or whenever, let’s hope it’s the latter.