New Zealander Joseph Parker has shocked the boxing world and beaten heavy favourite Deontay Wilder, a man he described afterwards as his toughest ever opponent, by a wide decision in Saudi Arabia today.
In a performance in Riyadh which will easily count as the best of the 31-year-old’s professional career, which now stands at 37 fights, Parker followed his game plan to the letter and had the American in serious trouble in the eighth round.
Wilder recovered – to an extent – but while he half-heartedly celebrated at the final bell, there was no way he could have won the fight. Indeed, one of the three judges gave every round to Parker – 120-107 - with the others scoring it 118-111 and 118-110.
At the result, Parker was hoisted on the shoulders of two of his supporters, including cousin Poasa Baice.
“Everyone had plans, other plans, but this is God’s plan,” Parker, only the second man to beat Wilder after his good friend Tyson Fury, said afterwards.
This was a reference to all the talk about Wilder’s planned fight against Anthony Joshua next year, a fight which presumably now won’t happen.
Indeed, Wilder’s entire future in boxing must now be questioned because the man who dubbed himself “Dr Sleep” for the percussive power of his fists was in danger of sending the crowd and television audience into a doze for his lacklustre and almost disinterested performance in the ring.
Fighting one round in the last two years wouldn’t have helped for a man who recently admitted to taking hallucinogenic drugs at a spiritual retreat.
Walking to the ring in Riyadh with the names of his four daughters embroidered on the back of his robe for the co-main event of a stacked card also featuring Joshua v Otto Wallin, Parker appeared confident from the outset.
The early two rounds were extremely cagey but a pattern was set; Parker controlling the centre of the ring and controlling the pace. He was also happy to throw his right hand – far more so than Wilder, whose own right hand is perhaps the most notorious in the sport.
Parker had early success with his jab – backing up the far taller but far lighter Wilder (Parker, tipping the scales at 111kg, had a 15kg weight advantage).
One of the notable tactics Parker used was his looping overhand right which he threw with his head lowered – all the better for avoiding what may come back, and the bout really took fire in the eighth when the Kiwi scored with that punch and backed Wilder into a corner.
Scoring with a flurry of punches, Parker poured on the pressure and must have been close to getting a stoppage.
Wilder was better in the next but seemed to lack confidence in his chin – Fury stopped him twice in their trilogy of fights – and only began throwing his right hand with commitment late on.
By then the fight was Parker’s to lose, but rather than coast to the end of the 12th and final round, he kept the pressure on – a decision no doubt based on the need to take away Wilder’s time and space.
“A lot of respect for Wilder, it was a dangerous fight, a tough fight, but we trained very hard for this,” he said. “I was focused and we had great momentum coming into this fight.
“I was very fit. I had to stay calm, stay relaxed and stay focused. I had to switch on for every second, every minute of every round.
“Today we got the win and Merry Christmas to us.”
Asked how the win rated in his career – Parker, the former WBO world champion whose previous greatest result was beating Andy Ruiz Jr for that prize in Auckland almost exactly seven years ago, said: “This is massive. This is the toughest opponent I’ve faced, with his right hand.
“I’m back!”
Asked how he avoided Wilder’s power punching, he replied: “Practice, practice, practice. Work, work, work. I had to stay aware the whole time. He did catch me a few times on the guard and I’ll tell you this, he has a very hard right hand. If it had landed clean it would have been different but today is my day.”
Wilder said: “My timing was off a little bit. Big love to Joseph, he did a great job avoiding a lot of my punches.
“We make no excuses tonight.”
Asked about the potential distraction of the Joshua fight, Wilder said: “There was a lot of talk about different things. But no excuses.”
For Wilder, there is only the unknown, but for Parker, the heavyweight world has just opened up again after his two defeats in 2018 and one by stoppage defeat to Joe Joyce last year.
He earned nearly $10million for this fight and, given the riches on offer in Saudi Arabia, there is potentially plenty more in store.
Merry Christmas indeed.
Fellow Kiwi Junior Fa lost by knockout to Frank Sanchez in the first fight on the card.
Other results:
Heavyweight: Filip Hrgovic beat Mark di Mori by first-round technical knockout.
Cruiserweight: Jai Opetaia beat Ellis Zorro by first-round knockout.
Heavyweight: Agit Kabayel beat Arslanbek Makhmudov by fourth-round technical knockout.
Heavyweight: Daniel Dubois beat Jarrell Miller by 10th-round technical knockout.
Light heavyweight: Dimitrii Bivol beat Lyndon Arthur by unanimous decision.
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