Deontay Wilder has revealed he suffered a gruesome unknown injury before his last two boxing fights.
The former WBC world heavyweight champion lost to Joseph Parker by way of unanimous decision in December before suffering a fifth-round knockout at the hands of Zhilei Zhang in June.
It leaves the American heavyweight some way off the world title picture and a potential money-spinning fight against Anthony Joshua looks further away than ever.
Wilder became WBC world champion back in 2015 and defended his title on ten separate occasions before losing it to Tyson Fury in their second fight back in February 2020.
The ‘Bronze Bomber’ then lost to Fury for a second time in the final instalment of their epic trilogy in 2022 and has since struggled to reclaim former glories.
Wilder made light work of Robert Helenius with a one-round knockout in 2022 before struggling against Parker and Zhang.
Still, speaking to American outlet TMZ, Wilder revealed an unknown broken arm may have had an impact.
“I broke my arm way back in November sometime. I didn't know,” he said.
“I had two tears on my shoulder. I could feel the pain, but I just thought it was old injuries. But I got an MRI [recently] and everything was f***ed up there, I didn't know because I've got a high tolerance of pain.”
