Deontay Wilder has explained the issue regarding a glove dispute ahead of his showdown with Derek Chisora.
The two men do battle at The O2 Arena in London tomorrow night, in a bout that is set to have big implications in the banner division one way or another.
Chisora heads into the clash on the back of three straight victories over Otto Wallin, Joe Joyce and Gerald Washington, and has vowed this will be his final fight no matter the outcome.
Some fans feel that if he wins in style, retirement won’t be the case, but Wilder will be looking to end any possibility of that happening as he bids for one final crack at returning to the top of the division.
‘The Bronze Bomber’ was once the long-term WBC heavyweight champion and is viewed as one of the most fearsome punchers in history, though in recent times has suffered two stoppage defeats to Tyson Fury along with further losses to Joseph Parker and Zhilei Zhang.
It means that Wilder will likely have to return to the form of the past if he is to have any chance of claiming the win over Chisora, and the two fighters went face-to-face for the final time before fight night as the the weigh-in took place on Friday.
Chisora came in at 266.7lbs, the heaviest weight of his career by just over 5lbs, while Wilder was 226.4lbs, almost identical to what he weighed for his victory over Tyrrell Herndon last June.
As the pair faced-off, Chisora poked fun at Wilder by wearing a Fury face mask, and ‘The Bronze Bomber’ gave his perspective on a problem with the gloves.
“I’ve broke my hands so many times and [I wasn’t happy] with the gloves that were provided. We had an issue with the glove being too tight on my hand. We’ll see what happens and get it straightened out.”
Both men played the glove drama down – Chisora claimed he had only just heard there was an issue – but it was understood to be more significant behind the scenes.
Despite that, all in all it was a respectful and friendly head-to-head, but fireworks are expected when they collide tomorrow night.
