Deontay Wilder’s trainer, Malik Scott, says a fight with Anthony Joshua “still may happen” on March 9th despite the Bronze Bomber’s loss to Joseph Parker last Saturday night in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Malik feels people will still want to see the former WBC heavyweight champion Wilder and Joshua fight. The decision could come down to what the Saudis want. They would be the ones that decide.
People would be more interested in seeing Joshua fight Wilder (43-3-1, 42 KOs) than the fighter that AJ’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, wants to set up a fight against, Filip Hrgovic.
Wilder looked poor against Parker (34-3, 23 KOs), losing a twelve-round unanimous decision.
Afterward, it was learned that Deontay had spent too long in a cryo chamber preparing for the fight.
Deontay’s manager, Shelly Finkel, said he’d stayed in the cryo chamber for too long, which is dangerous for anyone, even a super athlete like him.
“He and AJ were supposed to fight in March. It still may happen. That’s how boxing is. We’ll see. Deontay has got to go rest,” said trainer Malik Scott to ESNEWS about his belief that the Anthony Joshua vs. Deontay Wilder fight will still take place on March 9th despite the Bronze Bomber’s one-sided loss to Joseph Parker last Saturday night.
Malik is 100% right. Wilder’s loss won’t erase boxing fans’ interest in seeing him and Joshua battle it out.
Most fans won’t be aware of the former WBC heavyweight champion Wilder’s defeat to Parker, and even the ones that are, they’d still be chomping at the bit to see him and Joshua get it on again.
No one wants to see Joshua fight Filip Hrgovic, as he’s completely unknown and not well-liked by fans who have seen his fights.
AJ’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, can’t continue to match him against scrubs like he’s been doing in his last three fights. Hearn is artificially keeping Joshua’s career afloat by matching him against the worst of the worst.
A fight between Joshua and Wilder would still attract much interest, and it would be ideal for Saudi Arabia.
“It was a bad night at the office. First of all, Joseph Parker and [trainer] Andy Lee had a hell of a game plan,” said Malik about Wilder’s loss. “Joseph Parker’s chin wasn’t open. A couple of times, he was heavy-footed, and I thought Deontay could continue to be patient and jab him and make him run into something, but his chin was never over his front knee.
“He fought methodically all night long. They had a game plan, and they stuck to it. The best man won. Congratulations to Joseph Parker. I have nothing but love and genuine respect for him. He’s an incredible human being. He’s one of the best heavyweights in the world,” said Malik.
Parker’s game plan wasn’t what won him the fight. It was Wilder not throwing punches. The head & upper body movement from Parker was slow, and he was there to be pole-axed by Wilder if he was thrown consistently.
Eventually, he would have caught Parker and done what Joe Joyce did to him. All Joyce did was throw a lot of punches, and he wore Parker down like an old clock.
“There were a couple of things that he [Wilder] could have done more and could have done right. He came out of his base a lot. His chin came up a few times. The jab wasn’t filling the blank spaces a lot of times. There were a lot of times during the fight where there was nothing going on, and that was good for Parker but not good for Deontay,” said Malik.
The only thing Wilder needed to do for him to win the fight was to throw his right hand nonstop because that was what was missing. As Malik says, he wasn’t going to defeat Parker by jabbing and filling the space. He needed to throw his right.
Wilder doesn’t have an uppercut, so it would have been pointless for him to focus on throwing those shots against Parker. The primary weapon in Wilder’s toolbox is his right hand, and he kept it on the shelf for some reason.
