Boxing’s worst excuses – Deontay Wilder, Mike Tyson, Wladimir Klitschko, Manny Pacquiao and David Haye all feature as fighters who struggled to find acceptance after facing the likes of Tyson Fury and Floyd Mayweather

Top level athletes in many sports sometimes struggle to come to terms with defeat, and boxers are certainly no different in this respect.

In the ultimate form of egotistical one-on-one competition, it can be hard to accept that another man is simply better than you are.

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Over the years, this has led to some rather remarkable post-fight excuses...

Deontay Wilder's Long List

Where to start with this one? In the wake of his stoppage defeat to Tyson Fury in their 2020 rematch, Wilder blamed the demise of his unbeaten record on just about everything he could possibly think of.

First, the Bronze Bomber claimed that his ring walk costume was too heavy and said this weakened his legs.

He then accused Fury of glove tampering and insisted the Gypsy King had egg weights tucked inside which left a dent in his head.

Wilder next said he was spiked with muscle relaxer and sacked his assistant trainer Mark Breland who he believed could have been involved in this.

And finally he accused referee Kenny Bayless of handling the bout unfairly.

Admittedly, when the pair met again in their trilogy fight, Wilder did put up a far better showing, though he was ultimately KOd and beaten once again, with no excuses made this time around.

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George Foreman's Fake Friend

46 years before Wilder, Foreman was the hard-hitting heavyweight world champion who came out with a few excuses after losing his unbeaten record.

Foreman's 1974 'Rumble in the Jungle' defeat to Muhammad Ali remains one of boxing's most famous upsets to this day

The American insisted the ring ropes had been loosened to allow Ali to lean away from his punches, suggested he'd eaten eaten poisoned monkey fillet in training camp and added that his water bottle had been spiked.

However, the main bizarre excuse followed in Foreman's autobiography as he claimed that he'd spotted a friend of his in the crowd cheering for Ali during the fight and this affected his concentration because he saw it as a betrayal.

Foreman reflected years later: "I wish I hadn't made those excuses because it's almost like scarring a great name.

"The guy beat me fair and square. He beat me up and I should have allowed him to bathe in his victory instead of coming up with excuses to diminish him."

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Carl Froch's Volcanic Ash Cloud

When Froch's unbeaten streak came to an end at the hands of Mikkel Kessler in 2010, the Brit insisted an interruption to his pre-fight preparation had played a big part.

A volcanic ash cloud from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland cancelled several flights at the time, including Froch's one out to Denmark a week before the bout in his opponent's homeland.

In the end, he made it via private jet on the Wednesday just three days before the fight.

After Kessler won by unanimous decision, Froch revealed that he'd suffered a perforated eardrum in sparring and also blamed the ash cloud delay.

"There’s nothing more boring than listening to excuses, but I should have been better if that volcano hadn’t put up all that ash in the air," he said, "My flight was cancelled so I had a barbeque and ate some burgers and fizz pop."

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David Haye's Broken Toe

Following several years of hype and big talk, Haye was unable to make a dent in Wladimir Klitschko when they finally met in 2011.

The highly anticipated clash played out in typical fashion for heavyweight title fights at the time, as Klitschko secured a dominant, unentertaining, points win.

In the aftermath, the beaten Brit said he was prevented from pushing off on his back foot to land his biggest punches because of a pre-fight injury.

Fans were not too pleased to find out it was merely a broken little toe.

Haye showed off the injury to the media at the post-fight press conference and endured years of mockery as a result.

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Mike Tyson's Broken Back

Unlike most on this list, Tyson's odd excuse came after a victory.

Following what would turn out to be the final win of his career in 2003, 'Iron Mike' explained why he was not at his best despite KOing Clifford Etienne in one round.

Interviewer Jim Gray asked: "Mike were you really sick this week, what was the problem?"

To which Tyson replied: "I broke my back, my back is broken."

A bemused Gray added: "What do you mean by that? What part? A vertebrae?"

Tyson hilariously just responded: "Spinal."

He explained years later that he was genuinely suffering with back issues, but was not 'eloquent' enough to properly express himself.

Manny Pacquiao's Shoulder Injury

Pacquiao's 2015 meeting with Floyd Mayweather remains the richest fight in boxing history to this day.

The globally anticipated showdown was finally made after years of hype and speculation over who would emerge victorious.

However, when the pair did eventually step into the ring together, Mayweather nullified Pacquiao completely and won a comfortable, underwhelming unanimous decision.

At the post-fight press conference, the Filipino said he'd injured his right shoulder in training and suffered a recurrence during the fourth round.

He later underwent surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff, but received little sympathy as he went into boxing's biggest bout without telling the world he wouldn't be at 100 per cent.

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Alexander Povetkin's Bad Smell

Povetkin was a highly rated unbeaten heavyweight back in 2012, charging towards a title fight with Wladimir Klitschko.

When he faced Marco Huck, he did emerge victorious by majority decision, but underwhelmed greatly in his performance.

His trainer Alexander Zimin remarkably claimed that the reason for this was because Huck smelled so bad that it was badly affecting Povetkin.

Zimin is quoted as saying: "In round five I noticed that Sasha's eyes became dim. When I asked him what's wrong, he said that Huck's body was radiating such bad stinking that it made my fighter's head go round and round...

"I don't think that Huck's body just happened to produce such a powerful stench... I spent many years training fighters in Japan and I must say such methods are quite the norm in the Japanese pro boxing world. People even lost their licenses over such wrongdoings."

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Wladimir Klitscho's Vaseline

Klitschko famously suffered three defeats in the relatively early stages of his career before going on to reign as heavyweight world champion for close to a decade.

The third of these saw him astonishingly beaten by Lamon Brewster against all odds.

At this point, very few would have predicted Klitschko would go on to have such a legendary heavyweight career and all seemed lost for the Ukrainian.

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While struggling to come to terms with this, Klitschko claimed his cornerman Joe Souza applied too much Vaseline to his skin on all parts of his body which clogged his pores and prevented him from sweating.

Souza and the Klitschkos never worked again as a result.

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