Chael Sonnen explains what was ‘bizarre’ about Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder 2 stoppage

Chael Sonnen is in awe of Tyson Fury but he did find something “bizarre” about his stoppage win over Deontay Wilder.

This past Saturday night (Feb. 22), Fury and Wilder collided a second time for the WBC heavyweight title. Back in Dec. 2018, the first bout between Fury and Wilder ended in a controversial split draw. “The Gypsy King” left no doubt in the rematch as he dropped “The Bronze Bomber” twice and earned the seventh-round TKO victory.

Taking on his YouTube channel, Sonnen explained what he found odd about Wilder’s corner throwing in the towel.

“Stopping a fight is not something that I am a prude about,” Sonnen said on Deontay Wilder’s first career loss. “I believe a fight should be stopped as soon as your athlete can no longer win. I am not ready to tell you that that is true for Deontay Wilder because he’s got a right hand that has a mind of its own. It will come in at the craziest of angles at the craziest of times. It is not a textbook right hand. It does its own thing but it is a great equalizer. So I’m not ready to tell you that he was done. That is something for him and his corner and the referee to decide per the rules.”

Sonnen went on to say that the fact that the commander-in-chief of Wilder’s corner did not make the decision to stop the fight is what’s puzzling to him.

“It is a little bit bizarre, and I do not question this cornerman I’m just sharing with you, it is a little bit bizarre that a number two would make that call,” Sonnen continued when discussing Deontay Wilder’s defeat. “There is a hierarchy there and that is the number one’s job and the number two should’ve relayed this to the number one. That is generally how this should go. Now if the number one refuses to do it, the number two does have some authority as you saw and does also have a responsibility. I am not against what the number two did, I’m just sharing with you that would be very uncommon.”

At first, it was believed that Wilder’s head trainer Jay Deas made the call to end the fight. Deas later denied this and said that secondary trainer Mark Breland was the one who threw in the towel.

Do you find it odd that Deontay Wilder’s head coach wasn’t the one who threw in the towel?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 2/25/2020.