Deontay Wilder's head trainer, Jay Deas, has said it was not his decision to throw in the towel and concede defeat in Saturday's much-anticipated rematch with Tyson Fury.
Fourteen months on from their drawn first meeting, Wilder was on the receiving end of a heavy beating in Las Vegas as he lost his unbeaten record and WBC heavyweight title to a dominant opponent.
However, although Fury bossed the fight, twice sending his bloodied opponent to the canvas, both Wilder and Deas felt the 'Bronze Bomber' should have been afforded an opportunity to go out on his shield.
Co-trainer Mark Breland threw in the towel during round seven, a decision that was questioned by Deas in a post-fight news conference that Wilder missed in order to go to hospital for treatment on his injured ear.
"[Wilder] had a small cut inside the ear, [it] may have affected his equilibrium, so he's just going to get a couple of stitches there," explained Deas.
Discussing the fight's ending, Deas added: "I'm the head coach of the team but we do things a little bit differently - 99 per cent of the time the head coach of the team is the guy that's also the lead in the corner. Ours is a little bit more like a football team, American football, where the head coach doesn't necessarily call the plays.
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"Ours is a little bit like that, so what happened during the round was Mark [Breland] said something about throwing the towel in and I told him 'don't do that', I didn't think he should do that.
"Then the fight went a little bit longer and then I saw the towel go in. I haven't talked to Mark about it but we'll talk about it, figure out exactly what went on there."
Wilder, who hinted he had been hampered by an injury in the lead-up to the contest, expressed his unhappiness in the ring, stating: "I make no excuses tonight. I just wish my corner would have let me go out on my shield - I'm a warrior and that's what I do."
The nature of Wilder's loss has led to questions over whether he will activate a clause to fight Fury for a third time, but Deas is convinced the bout will take place.
"I think so, absolutely," added the trainer. "Knowing him like I do, he will want the rematch.
"These guys have put on two tremendous fights. The public will want it. We'll want it, they'll want it. It seems natural. I think it's what you'll see happen."
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