23 December 2023 , 22:53
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Deontay Wilder blew his chance of a $100million pay day against Anthony Joshua after he fell to a points defeat by Joseph Parker.
Wilder and Joshua had agreed terms for a two-fight showdown in Saudi Arabia next year - assuming they overcame Parker and Otto Wallin respectively on Saturday night. But Wilder failed to keep his end of the deal, losing almost every round to the Kiwi.
Wilder was fighting for just the second time since he was stopped by Tyson Fury in their trilogy fight in 2021 with his only other outing a devastating one-round KO of Robert Helenius 14 months ago.
Wilder looked a shadow of his former self (Getty Images)Parker, meanwhile, was targeting a final run at another world title shot having won three fights in succession since losing to Joe Joyce last year and was returning to Riyadh just two months after stopping Simon Kean. But barely a punch was landed in the opening session as the rivals stalked each other around the ring for three minutes. Wilder was more active in the second round but remained content to box on his back foot in search of a fight-ending blow.
Wilder was struggling to look fluid as he perhaps showed the effects of ring rust. And through four rounds Parker was growing in confidence as Wilder threw wild punches which never looked like connecting. Parker could be confident of being ahead on the judges' scorecards through five rounds as Wilder continued to be reluctant to let his hands go. And there was no change as the fight entered the second half as Wilder risked running out of time.
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And it was Parker who almost stopped the fight in the eighth round, pinning Wilder to the ropes and unloading with the American barely surviving to hear the bell. Wilder failed to turn the tide as the fight reached the final round as the judges scored the fight 118-111, 118-110 and 120-108 in Parker's favour.
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Wilder didn't make any excuses for the defeat and also didn't rule out the possibility of hanging up his gloves when quizzed about retirement. "Today is my daughter's birthday I'm a happy fighter, we go in here and do what we do. I'm a warrior, I'll be back soon. If not, then I appreciate the love and support everyone has given me over the years. Life is about falling and getting back up, you must get back up," Wilder said.
“My timing was off a little bit, big up to Joseph as he did a great job avoiding all of my punches. We make no excuses tonight. We’re not going to base it off inactivity, we move onto the next and live to see another day. I tried to stay calm, throw jabs and set up my right hand. I felt like I had the upper hand but these thing happen,” Wilder said.
Earlier in the night, Daniel Dubois stopped Jarrell Miller with eight seconds left on the clock to put his heavyweight career back on track. Dubois was returning to the ring four months after he was stopped by Oleksandr Usyk in his maiden world title fight.
And he dominated Miller for large swathes of their slugfest before the Brit forced the referee to step in at the end of the 10th session. Also on the undercard, Dmitry Bivol retained his light-heavyweight world title by winning every round against an over-matched Lyndon Arthur.