Deontay Wilder 's head coach Malik Scott has defended criticism of Anthony Joshua after his loss to Oleksandr Usyk this past weekend.
Joshua lost his heavyweight titles for the second time in four fights after being outpointed by Usyk in London, with the judges scoring the fight 117-112, 116-112 and 115-113.
The loss dented Joshua's hopes of a fight against domestic rival Tyson Fury, with the pair's scheduled August fight being cancelled after an arbitration judge ruled in favour of Wilder's trilogy against Fury.
Wilder teamed up with Scott - a former boxer who was knocked out by Wilder in 2014 - after his stoppage loss to Fury in their rematch last year.
And Scott was quick to shut down rival fans who celebrated Joshua's defeat.
He posted on Instagram : “FYI – if anybody sends me a message calling Anthony Joshua a bum or talking derogatory about him because he lost to a great fighter, I’m blocking you immediately. Fickle humans.”
Soon afterwards, a fan replied to Scott's post: “AJ is a bum.”
To which he responded: “At least he’s a history making, rich bum. And now you’re [a] piece of s*** that just got blocked.”
Wilder also recently partnered with Don House - an experienced coach and cutman - who has worked with fighters such as Floyd Mayweather during his own boxing career.
Scott and House have discussed the newfound changes Wilder had made to his game as he prepares for the trilogy, specifically working on improving his body shots.
But Fury isn't buying the supposed improvements Wilder has made, predicting he will stop him even quicker than he did in their rematch.
What did you make of Joshua's performance against Usyk? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
And House told 78SportsTV earlier this month that he can't just rely on his power if he is to avenge his loss to Fury.
He said: "As a trainer for Deontay Wilder, everyone knows he’s got that bomb. If he catches you with that, you’re going to sleep.
“I saw a lot of things in Deontay that he didn’t see himself. But when you have that bomb, when you can crack with that right hand a lot of times, you rely just on that.
“But when somebody can take that from you, it makes it difficult to win a fight. Listen, Deontay is a pure athlete.
“By saying that, there are a lot of things that he can get away with that a lot of fighters can’t get away with. This guy [Deontay] is fast, and he’s got power with both hands.
"I don’t want to give away all the secrets, but all the fundamental things, he’s picking up easy."
