27 December 2023 , 12:22
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Deontay Wilder has revealed that Joseph Parker texted him a message of appreciation after their boxing fight last weekend.
Wilder was expected to beat Parker in Saudi Arabia at the 'Day of Reckoning' event to set up a showdown against Anthony Joshua, but the mega-fight is now seemingly off after Wilder suffered an upset defeat to Parker. The former world champion landed less than 40 punches in the entire fight as Parker picked up his fourth win of the year.
Parker is well-liked among the boxing community and Wilder shared this sentiment by revealing a text message the New Zealander sent him after their fight. "He texted me, people don’t know that Parker and I have a relationship. He told me thank you for the opportunity for the fight and what a great fight," Wilder told 78SportsTV.
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"I told him congratulations bro, I hope you enjoy the win with your family. We never had no beef with each other, we knew each other before all of this stuff, he’s such a nice man, he’s such a nice person. If I would lose coming back to somebody, it would be him 10 times over, a thousand times over, because he’s just such a nice guy.”
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Wilder finds himself in no man's land after his loss to Parker whilst Joshua is expected to fight Filip Hrgovic for a world title in his next fight. Joshua made easy work of Otto Wallin in the moments after Wilder's defeat however the American took credit for his rival's win and insisted 'AJ' was never serious about fighting him.
“They really don’t want that fight. When I lost, did you see how happy he was coming out? I broke out laughing in the back, I said, ‘He's happy as f***.’ I made him be able to perform like that. He was like, ‘I ain’t gotta fight Wilder.’ The rumour was he was talking about retiring if I won. March 9th, the fight still can go on but this is a perfect way for them to get out," he told 78SportsTV.
"They didn't really have true intentions on fighting matter, my heart is shattered because I wanted to know what would have become of that. Although it's still on, they can escape now if they want to and it won't look like they have done anything wrong. He mentioned he wanted to count all the times people said his name, but he didn't get asked the same questions about him that I got asked about him."