Deontay Wilder's father, Gary Wilder, wants him to replace trainer Malik Scott following his fifth round loss to Zhilei Zhang last Saturday.
Scott was a friend of WBC heavyweight Wilder (43-4-1, 42 KOs) before taking over as his head coach in 2021.
Record Under Scott's Direction
Since then, Wilder has been gone 1-3, and his fighting style has changed from a slugger to a boxer, which hasn't worked. Gary feels that was a mistake, as he thinks Deontay was better when he was lazy. He's certainly not well-equipped to try to outbox his opponents, and his fighting style is eerily similar to Malik Scott's now. It didn't work.
His career has sunk. Fans on social media were clamoring for Deontay to fire Scott, but he stuck with him even though he didn't succeed. Wilder's only win since Scott took over as his trainer is against his former partner, Robert Helenius.
“He needs someone to respect him,” Deontay's father, Gary Wilder, told USA TODAY Sports about his desire for Deontay to replace coach Malik Scott. “You don't need a friend to train you.”
Many people believe that Wilder needs a certified trainer, not a pedestrian training him. Wilder's former coach, Mark Breland, is a 1984 Olympic gold medalist with outstanding skills.
Wilder's Stubborn Loyalty
Replacing Breland with Malik Scott would seem odd, and Wilder has chosen to stick with him despite loss after loss. You'd think Deontay would know by now that things aren't going well for him and he needs to kiss his corner, but he seems determined to stick with Scott until the end.
“It's not too late [Deontay]. I believe that he has many good years left,” continued Gary Wilder. “Deontay has been lazy.”
It is doubtful that a new trainer can improve Wilder enough to find the success he had before. In the losses to Deontay Zhang and Joseph Parker, he looked like he was afraid to throw punches.
A different coach may not be able to help the 38-year-old Wilder if he is afraid to throw. Also, Deontay's lack of resistance to boxing will not improve with a new coach.
“Now Malik is trying to train him to be a boxer, if you look you will see that Deontay is not comfortable where he is. “If he just tries to be a boxer, he won't win,” said Gary.
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