DEONTAY WILDER’s long-awaited showdown with Anthony Joshua was scuppered by his use of PSYCHEDELIC drugs, his head coach has stunningly claimed.
The former WBC heavyweight champion was on course to have back-to-back multi-million-pound dust-ups with AJ before his Riyadh rumble with Joseph Parker last December.
But a gun-shy Bronze Bomber turned in a stinker of a performance against the Kiwi and has seemingly forever scuppered one of the biggest fights in the history of the heavyweight division.
And head coach Malik Scott has claimed he turned in disaster of a display as multiple doses of Ayahuasca in recent years have dampened his appetite for destruction.
The American told Instant Casino: “I think Deontay has a killer instinct in him that you can’t suppress, but I think he enjoyed Ayahuasca.
“I think that it possibly did not match the attitude needed in the ring.
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“Because like he said, it made him a bit content and made him have an understanding of the smaller and softer things in life.
“And if you’re in that type of space then violence is not a top priority.
“But when you’re in a boxing ring violence has got to be [the] top priority.
“Violence wasn’t a top priority that night and I think that’s why we came up short.
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“Deontay is a killer, he’s violent, he wants to put holes through you when he punches you, that Deontay didn’t show up that night, he couldn’t pull the trigger.”
Wilder has openly spoken about his use of Ayahuasca, a popular South American psychoactive drug.
Ahead of his Saudi showdown with Parker, the 38-year-old claimed he felt “reborn” after taking the substance.
Wilder will look to get his career back on track this summer in a crunch clash with Chinese clubber Zhilei Zhang.
And Scott is adamant the shell of the Alabama slammer that turned up against Parker won’t be who throws down with Zhang.
He continued: “That’s not the fighter you’re going to see in his next fight.
“He’s taken the initiative to start training way earlier. He knows our back is up against the wall and we know what we need to do.
Everything is at stake, not his legacy, he’s already a legend, but concerning becoming two-time heavyweight champion, that part of his legacy is on the line now.”
Scott added: “I do not have less belief in him, it was just a bad night at the office, I’ve seen the best of them have those nights.
“Zhang is dangerous, but I’m very comfortable and happy with the fight because big Zhang is someone who makes you stay alert and makes you stay elusive.
“He’s a big man and he can punch but we know what we have to do to operate on him and do surgery on him and that’s what we are going to do.
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“It’s going to be a surgical performance.
“What I really like about the fight is how dangerous Zhang is, a very dangerous opponent and that’s going to make Deontay even better.”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
