DEONTAY WILDER needs to set aside friendships if he’s to have any chance of finally defeating Tyson Fury.
That’s the view of legendary trainer Harold Knight, who says the appointment of Wilder’s friend Malik Scott as his head coach could spell trouble for the Bronze Bomber.
The pair teamed up earlier this year to prepare for the highly anticipated trilogy bout with Fury.
And Knight – who coached Scott and has worked with Dillian Whyte and Lennox Lewis – warned Wilder he needs to stay businesslike ahead of Saturday’s showdown.
Knight told MyBettingSites: “From experience and being around Malik for a long time, it’s a fine line between friendship and business.
“If Malik can keep it business rather than friendship with Wilder, I believe they can do some good things.
“This is business, this is high stakes boxing, this is world championship boxing, legacy is on the line.
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“If you are a friend of the guy you train, you are going to tell him what he wants to hear instead of what he needs to hear.
“It does not work like that. You want to be going in training camp and say: ‘I like you and respect you but I’m not going to tell you what you want to hear.’
“This is what I hope Malik has done. Generally you want to eliminate fanboys, you want to have people around you that are going to take you to another level.”
Wilder fought Scott back in 2014 and was keen to turn their friendship professional after sacking Mark Breland for throwing in the towel during his last meeting with Fury.
The 35-year-old goes into the Las Vegas fight with a record of one draw and a loss to the Gypsy King – but Knight cautioned against seeing Scott as his saviour.
He added: “Malik hasn’t been in the corner before as head trainer, but you have to start somewhere.
“When you get to this world championship level, legacy on the line, how you react in the corner is important: what you tell your guy when he’s losing or winning.
“If you lose this you’re done, so you want to be able to pull out all the stops in this fight.”
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Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
