Over the weekend, Deontay Wilder tasted defeat for the first time, succumbing to a volley of seventh-round punches from Tyson Fury. This first loss also marked the end of Wilder’s reign as WBC heavyweight champion.

While Wilder is no doubt disappointed with the way things unfolded in the ring on Saturday night, he’s received well-wishes from many members of the combat sports community. One of the latest to chime in is undefeated boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Mayweather sent Wilder a message of support on Instagram, urging the community to “uplift” the vanquished champion.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B878Y11l9tK/

“Win, Lose or Draw…. Deontay @BronzeBomber is our brother that has accomplished many triumphs and as a community we should all uplift and support him throughout it all. No matter what, you’re still a winner in my eyes, King!”

Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury’s weekend war was a rematch of a 2018 fight, which ended with a controversial draw.

While the rematch was quite one-sided in Fury’s favor, the expectation is that the pair could meet in a trilogy fight in the near future. Wilder’s contract allows him to force an immediate rematch, and Fury seems to believe that’s how things will shake out — though a collision with unified heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua is also possible.

“The spoils of war have just happened,” Fury said post-fight (via The Guardian). “I need to enjoy this victory and Deontay will need time to recover from the fight, but I’m almost sure that he will take a rematch because he’s a dynamite puncher. At any time he can take somebody out. With that danger, then you’re always in a fight. I’m pretty sure we’ll run it back again if he wants to. But if he doesn’t want to, these are my promoters and whatever they want to do, I’m happy with. Whoever’s next will get the same treatment, that’s for sure.”

What do you think of the message Deontay Wilder received from Floyd Mayweather post-fight?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 2/24/2020.