Joseph Parker is wondering where Deontay Wilder “is coming from” after the American made a series of excuses for his shock defeat in Saudi Arabia in December.
One of the three judges ruled that Wilder lost all 12 rounds in an unanimous decision loss to the underdog Kiwi heavyweight in Riyadh just before Christmas as Parker upset the odds with one of his best ever performances.
Wilder is no stranger to listing tenuous reasons for his losses – he blamed one of his defeats to Tyson Fury on wearing heavy elaborate headgear and armour on a ring walk – and the latest is almost as entertaining.
“It was a boring fight,” Wilder said in an interview.
“Nothing really happened. I went back to training the next day. He didn’t really do anything. They [the judges] just went off the little flurries or whatever.
“In the training for that I had to travel two times – 20 hours of travelling. And those guys were already in Europe. They were only two or three hours away. I’m not complaining, I’m just saying what I had to go through.”
The reality was the three judges gave the victory to Parker via an extremely wide decision because the normally destructive Wilder fought almost entirely on the back foot and was unwilling or unable to connect cleanly with his notorious right hand.
It was a curious departure from his mindset straight after the fight when he 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.”
Going into the fight with a record blemished only by two defeats and a draw to Fury, the current WBC world champion, Wilder had won 42 of his 43 victories by knockout.
As it was, he did well to stay on his feet as the inspired Parker connected with a series of power punches, including one stunning right hand in the eighth round when Wilder was on the ropes.
Wilder’s grasp of geography was also a little out – it takes more than nine hours to fly from Parker’s base in Dublin to Riyadh – but regardless, Parker gave the sob story short shrift, preferring to look ahead to his next fight against Zhilei Zhang in the Saudi capital on March 9.
“I’m not sure where he’s coming from with that, but I do know that he had to travel back and forth – we had to do the promotion… travelling and jet lag is a real thing but I guess as a professional fighter you have a team around you that has to make decisions around when you need to be there and allow yourself the time to adjust,” Parker told IFL TV.
“A lot of people thought I would be the sacrificial lamb, that I would go in, get beaten, I’ve had a great career, and then the [Anthony] Joshua v Wilder fight is going to be the next fight on the scene.
“We were very confident because of the work we’d done. And the most important thing was momentum.”
In the wake of Parker’s one-sided victory some of the discourse has centred on former WBC world champion Wilder’s inactivity and indeed the Alabama native’s boxing ability. Parker attempted to put that in perspective too.
“I can see everyone questioning ‘was he even good?' Listen, he was a devastating heavy puncher. He has done a lot in the heavyweight division and he’s still got a lot to give.
“That night wasn’t his night. It was my night. I worked very hard and kept busy. I did everything right heading into that fight… to question him and what he’s done, I don’t think it’s fair.”
Parker's fight against Chinese southpaw Zhang, nicknamed “Big Bang”, on the undercard of the Joshua v Francis Ngannou main event on March 9, may be one of his most challenging.
The pair have a recent opponent – Englishman Joe Joyce - in common, Parker losing to Joyce by knockout (his first stoppage defeat) and Zhang stopping Joyce both times.
However, while Zhang’s chin and southpaw style may trouble Parker, the New Zealand’s hand speed and movement could be a factor.
“It’s good to go in against Zhang because he’s coming off two good wins against Joyce,” Parker said.
“He’s hot at the moment. I am as well. This is going to be a very important fight for both of us. I’ve been in [professional] boxing for over 10 years and I like to challenge myself. These types of fights really lift my game. I was a champion before but I feel like I want it a lot more now.
“A lot of people say he’s 40 and he’s old and he’s going to fade… but we’re doing the best prep. I feel like with each camp I’m going up and up. There’s only one way to prove I’m going up and that’s doing it on fight night.”
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