Deontay Wilder blamed his walkout costume being too heavy for his defeat to Tyson Fury on Saturday night and Anthony Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn has mocked the excuse.
Fury claimed the WBC world heavyweight title in a dominating performance in Las Vegas.
The Gypsy King downed the home favourite in the third and fifth rounds before the towel was thrown in the ring in the seventh.
A rematch clause was inserted into the contract and Wilder insists he wants the trilogy fight.
But he will not be donning any extravagant garment next time around as the costume, which weighed 20kg (45lbs) and cost £31,000 ($40,000), had an adverse effect on his endurance
That means any plans for Fury to take on Joshua in a blockbuster unification fight will have to wait and Hearn mocked Wilder for giving such an excuse.
“To be fair now I found out he lost because his ring walk outfit was too heavy, I’m glad he’s gonna get another chance,” Hearn tweeted.
Wilder claimed he was not hurt by Fury, despite blood oozing out of cuts to his mouth and ear.
“He didn’t hurt me at all, but the simple fact is… that my uniform was way too heavy for me,” Wilder told Yahoo Sports. “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.
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“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.”
Fury and Wilder and expected to go head-to-head for a third time this summer.
That means Joshua will have to take on mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev.
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