Whether he was unable or simply unwilling to let his hands go, former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder looked every bit of his age on Saturday in a performance that could cost him a pair of big-money superfights in 2024.
The 38-year-old Wilder (43-3-1, 42 KOs), who had boxed just one round coming over the two years since he was stopped in a trilogy fight against Tyson Fury, lost nearly every round on all three scorecards to former WBO titleholder Joseph Parker (34-3, 23 KOs) in a wide unanimous decision. Parker, 31, took home scores of 118-111, 118-110 and 120-108.
The co-main event of a loaded pay-per-view card from Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was designed as a teaser for a long-awaited March showdown between Wilder and former unified champion Anthony Joshua, who took on Otto Wallin in the main event. The two former champions, whom fans have wanted to see square off since each first won titles in 2015, had reportedly signed a two-fight contract for March that is now highly under question.
Parker, a native of New Zealand, outlanded Wilder by a margin of 89 to 39, according to CompuBox, and connected on 40% of his power shots behind a looping right hand that gave Wilder fits. But even though the victory proved revitalizing to Parker’s hopes of re-entering the title picture, the chatter during and after the fight on social media surrounded Wilder’s passivity.
Not only did Wilder fail to step on the gas and go for broke late, even as his corner was urging him on, he referenced after the fight a spiritual retreat in South America, which included the use of the psychedelic drug Ayahuasca, might have played a key role in removing the fire in his belly.
“A lot has calmed me down. I have done Ayahuasca and found a lot of peace in my life and I found a lot of happiness in my life,” Wilder said. “I have been wearing this smile all week long and I will still keep wearing it because I am blessed and highly favored and nothing can stop me from that. If you come up short, you keep trying. That is what life is all about. You can’t quit and you can’t give up, you must keep moving forward.”
Wilder largely fought from distance and circled backwards unnecessarily. The distance allowed Parker to mix in body shots and stiff jabs to set up his looping right hands, all the while being mindful of avoiding the occasional straight right hands from Wilder in return.
Parker referenced time spent in training camp with Fury, the current WBC heavyweight, who went 2-0-1 over three memorable fights with Wilder, including two victories by stoppage, as playing a big role in helping him disarm Wilder’s output.
“A lot of respect to Wilder. It was a dangerous fight and a tough fight but we trained very hard for this,” Parker said. “We were purely focused and we had great momentum coming into this fight. Everyone had plans, other plans, but this was God’s plans.
“This is massive. This is the toughest opponent I have faced with the biggest right hand. And Tyson Fury, thank you for all of your help. It was a massive help. Tyson gave us a sign in sparring and discussed with [trainer] Andy [Lee] on things to do and it all came to plan.”
Even as he built a big lead on the scorecards, Parker never sat on it. He opened Round 12 looking for the knockout and was never in trouble at any point in the fight. Parker even came close to scoring a stoppage in Round 8 as he badly hurt Wilder with a right hand and poured on combinations after pinning Wilder in the corner until the final bell.
“The strategy was to stay calm and stay relaxed and focused but also that were switched on for every second of every round for the entire fight,” Parker said. “We still have a lot of things to work on but today we got the win so Merry Christmas to us.
“Deontay has a new coach and maybe he is applying the new things they are working on. Maybe inactivity played a big part.”
Wilder weighed in at 213 pounds, his lightest since he fought Fury to a draw in their first bout in 2018, and 25 pounds lighter than he weighed in his 2021 trilogy loss to Fury. With noticeably skinnier legs, Wilder’s footwork was off all night and despite outlanding Parker in just one of the 12 rounds, he celebrated after the final bell as if he had won.
“My timing was off a little bit but big ups to Joseph, he did a great job avoiding all of my punches,” Wilder said. “We make no excuses tonight. It was a good fight and we did what we did but we move on to the next thing. We live to see another day and that’s what it’s all about.
“[My gameplan was] I wanted to stay calm, throw a couple of jabs and throw the right hand. He did a good job avoiding and ducking.”
One thing Wilder did admit was being distracted by not just the talk of two Joshua fights but a mixed rules PPV bout against former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou that was also rumored for the first half of 2024.
“Just a little bit, [I was distracted],” Wilder said. “There was a lot of talk about different things but we make no excuses tonight. We will be back for sure. We have a little bit more left and we will see what happens. I’m a happy fighter. We go in there and do what we do and then we spread love and go on to the next. “
Parker had previously come up short each time he had stepped up to the elite level, losing a lifeless title unification to Joshua on points in 2018 before a decision loss later that year to Dillian Whyte. But ever since he was stopped by Joe Joyce last September, Parker has done some of his best work as a pro and extended his win streak to four with the victory over Wilder.
