Abel Sanchez on Deontay Wilder: 'His secret weapon is Mark Breland'
What is the secret to Deontay Wilder’s success in the ring? Forget the bomb of a right hand. For trainer Abel Sanchez, it’s the man in Wilder’s corner.
“[Wilder’s] secret weapon is [co-trainer] Mark Breland,” Sanchez told Boxing Junkie. “Oh yes, absolutely. Mark is his coach, and he never gets mentioned.”
Breland, a 1984 Olympic gold medalist who was touted as the next Sugar Ray Leonard, was known for his length and devastating right hand as a welterweight in the professional ranks. Along with head trainer Jay Deas, Breland has been instructing Wilder since he turned professional in 2008, shortly after he won a bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics.
Sanchez, best known for his work with Terry Norris and Gennadiy Golovkin, got a close up look at the Wilder camp several years ago, when his fighter Murat Gassiev received an invitation to come spar.
“When I was there for one week and they were shadow boxing, I could see Mark was constantly talking to Deontay,” Sanchez said. “Now that I see his fights more … it’s more evident to me that Mark had a really big influence on that part of his game.”
It was something like a match made in heaven, according to Sanchez. Wilder’s seemingly rudimentary skill set is a source of agony for some aficionados, but Sanchez recognizes that Wilder has been brought up to maximize his greatest attributes: power and length.
“Sometimes we as coaches don’t develop everything as a fighter,” Sanchez said. “There’s very few coaches that can teach you everything at 100%. There are defensive coaches and there are offensive coaches. Mark may not have been able to develop that with other fighters, but with Wilder being as long and lanky as Mark was, it was a perfect fit.”
Case in point is Wilder’s right hand. There is nothing rudimentary about it.
“When you look at Deontay’s right hand, that thing is totally extended,” Sanchez said. “And I think that is one of the reasons why he punches so hard. He gets so much leverage on his punch, he just extends it so well.”
Contrast that to Tyson Fury, the equally tall and long heavyweight giant whom Wilder faces in a rematch this Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
“All these heavyweights today are 6-foot whatever, but if you look at Tyson Fury, Tyson Fury is a different kind of fighter,” Sanchez said. “He has the height and length, too, but he doesn’t use it like Deontay does. He wants to dance, and his arms are bent when he punches, so he doesn’t get that additional explosion off of his punches as Deontay has been able to do.”