Wilder said during a lengthy interview with Brian Custer that he has experienced lasting psychological effects from his past rivalry with Tyson Fury, saying, “I got PTSD of past situations but I done saw anyone for that.”
The admission was unusually direct from a former heavyweight champion whose identity was built on intimidation and emotional certainty. He said he has since sought help, but his comments quickly returned to Fury, the opponent who handed him two stoppage losses and ended his title reign.
Fury rivalry stays central to Wilder’s comeback
The reference was not casual. Wilder launched right into a sustained attack on Fury’s character, accusing him of cheating and directing anger toward those that supported him. The emotional intensity of those remarks revealed that Fury stays central to Wilder’s pondering, whilst he prepares to resume his profession against recent opposition. Fighters who’ve fully moved forward rarely revisit old defeats with that level of urgency years later.
Wilder’s profession stalled after the Fury trilogy led to October 2021, when he was stopped within the eleventh round of their third fight. That defeat followed his seventh-round stoppage loss of their rematch, which had already cost him the WBC heavyweight title he defended successfully ten times. He returned in 2022 with a knockout win over Robert Helenius, but his activity slowed afterward, and he not occupies the identical position of authority he once held within the division.
His comments through the interview reflected a fighter attempting to reassert relevance while still carrying the emotional weight of those losses. Wilder described himself as essential to boxing’s future, saying the game is incomplete without him, but his words repeatedly circled back to Fury fairly than outlining specific steps toward rebuilding his standing.
Seeing a fighter who built his entire profession on being the “Bronze Bomber,” this unstoppable, intimidating force, admitting to having PTSD is a large shift in his public persona.
While he hasn’t explicitly blamed a single fight, the “shadow of himself” remark is backed up by his recent record.
The Post-Fury Slump
Since that brutal 2021 trilogy finale, he has indeed struggled to search out the identical rhythm:
- Robert Helenius (2022): He looked just like the old Wilder here with a first-round KO, but that was a fast blast that didn’t require much sustained mental focus.
- Joseph Parker (2023): This was where the “shadow” really appeared. He looked hesitant and listless, losing a large unanimous decision.
- Zhilei Zhang (2024): One other tough night where he seemed gun-shy before being stopped within the fifth round.
- Tyrrell Herndon (2025): He did pick up a TKO win here, but it surely was against a lower tier of opposition in comparison with the elite level he’s used to.
The perception is that the Fury fights are the foundation cause, which is sensible while you take a look at how he talks. Even in recent interviews where he mentions in search of help from a sports psychologist, his conversation almost all the time circles back to Fury, betrayal, and the emotional baggage from that era.
Deontay recently mentioned that “betrayal” from those around him during that point affected him greater than the actual losses, which suggests the “PTSD of past situations” could be as much in regards to the people around him because the punches he took. At 40, fighting through that level of psychological weight is a tall order, especially in a division that has moved on to guys like Usyk.
Wilder, now 40, stays one in all the toughest punchers in heavyweight history, and that alone ensures he’ll proceed to draw attention. Knockout power doesn’t disappear overnight, and it gives him a pathway back into meaningful fights if he stays lively. But his interview made clear that his return shouldn’t be simply about chasing recent opponents. It’s also about confronting the chapter that altered his profession.
