DEONTAY WILDER ‘finished out on the battlefield’ but with ‘no bullets left’ in defeat to Tyson Fury, said David Haye.
Haye was ringside in Las Vegas to witness the modern day classic, which had five knockdowns involved before ending in round 11.
Fury scored three of them, but twice had to pick himself up off the canvas in round four.
But ex-champion Haye, who predicted Wilder would pull off the upset, praised the American for his gutsy performance up until the final punch.
He told iFL TV: “I know a lot of people wrote Wilder off, but he showed tremendous heart and balls to stay in there.
“True to his word, he said didn’t want this corner to throw in the towel, Breland threw the towel in to save him for this day, which was a great thing.
“It appeared to everyone’s point of view to be the right thing, and this time around, I’m pretty sure Malik Scott was given strict instructions that no matter what happened to him in that fight, no matter how much of a beating he was taking, don’t even pick up that towel to throw it.
“Because, ‘I’d rather die in the ring,’ he said that, and he proved it. He finished out on the battlefield with no bullets left in his gun.
“He could not have done anything more. Credit to him.”
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Wilder, who drew to Fury in 2018, lost the rematch last year and sacked his coach Mark Breland for throwing in the towel.
But Breland’s replacement Scott – who was beaten by the heavyweight himself in 2014 – refused to end the action.
Wilder, 35, was finally knocked out with one round to go, as Fury, 33, closed out the trilogy fight and their rivalry in style.
Haye, 40, admitted he got his pre-fight prediction wrong and conceded the Gypsy King – who he recently called out to fight – is the division’s No1.
He said: “I definitely got it wrong because I thought Deontay Wilder now that he was coming with both guns blazing now that he had his right hand back, that would be enough to take Fury out if the opportunity around, which I knew at some stage it would
“It nearly happened. He heavily put Fury down a couple of times in the fourth round, but to Tyson Fury’s credit, he was able to shake him off and get back up and put it straight back on Wilder.
“Not only was it a great performance by Fury, but he also took Wilder’s best biggest punches.
“I consider him the single biggest punch as a heavyweight ever with his right hand, and he took it clean in the forehead.
“It shook him to his boots. That same shot has knocked out 41 people in the past.
“Fury showed that his chin was as good as everything thought it was prior to that fight.
“It was a great performance. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time.
“It was a fight where both fighters showed up and did their very best, and we got a very, very clear conclusive victor.
“Fury, that performance for me, showed he’s number one.”
