Deontay Wilder still wants to face Anthony Joshua in his next fight, but he believes AJ will use his loss to Joseph Parker last Saturday as an excuse to swerve him for March 9th.
Wilder still believes the fight with Joshua will happen, but the Saudis will need to intervene because, without them, AJ will go in another direction towards a possible fight against Filip Hrgovic.
Hearn’s Play
That’s the one his promoter, Eddie Hearn, has been discussing since the post-fight press conference last Saturday night. Hearn gets amped up when talking about Joshua fighting Hrgovic next.
If the Joshua-Hrgovic fight happens next, it would be Hearn’s baby, his creation. He’d be the mother of this fight because he wanted it. Hrgovic would be Hearn’s monster let loose to pillage AJ and totally ruin things.
Joshua gets knocked out by one of Hrgovic’s rabbit punches; Hearn will be the one who gets royally roasted by the fans afterward.
AJ can take a decent punch, but he might not be able to withstand getting nailed 20 to 30 times with rabbit shots all Hrgovic without folding. He might wished afterwards that he’s gone with the Wilder fight.
Maybe Hearn sees something that others don’t because Hrgovic is an unknown in the UK and the U.S., and Joshua won’t get much attention fighting this guy, and he won’t receive credit for beating him.
Deontay’s interpretation
Wilder says Joshua looked ecstatic with joy after his loss to Parker. When Joshua (27-3, 24 KOs) came out for his fight against Otto Wallin for the main event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, he had a big smile.
Deontay read that to mean that AJ felt like he no longer had to worry about fighting him. Wilder stays he heard that Joshua would have retired if he’d won his fight with Parker, because he wanted no part of fighting him. That’s how scared Joshua is of fighting him.
Joshua looked so happy during his ring walk for his fight with journeyman Wallin, as if he’d gotten the Christmas present that he’d been hoping for.
The Saudi factor
“I finally got a country that backs me. In Saudi Arabia, they love me over there,” said Deontay Wilder to 78Sportstv. “His Excellency said, ‘Wilder, you’ve changed. You used to talk about killing. We want that Wilder.’
“They really don’t want that fight. When I lost, did you see how happy he was coming out? I broke out laughing, I said, ‘That guy is happy,’ I made him able to perform like that,” said Deontay about Anthony Joshua being happy that he lost to Parker because he was off the hook.
It was so obvious that Joshua had gotten his secret wish fulfilled that it wasn’t even funny. He was as happy as a lark after Wilder’s loss. Parker did AJ a solid by taking care of the dead-looking Wilder, who looked and fought like he was re-animated.
We don’t know what happened to Wilder, but when he was talking about sparring 25, 30, and 35 rounds a day in training camp, this writer thought nothing good could come of this. That’s WAY too many rounds of sparking for anyone, particularly a fighter 38 years old coming off a 14-month layoff.
Super middleweight contender David Benavidez was sparring half as many rounds as Wilder for his fight with Caleb Plant last March, and he looked like a spent force on the night of the fight.
“He was like, ‘I ain’t got to fight Wilder.’ The rumor 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,” said Deontay about his belief that Joshua would use his defeat to Parker as an excuse to weasel out of the fight against him.
Wilder resolved to regain his form
“I’m so heartbroken about my performance because I know it was lackluster. We had a hell of a training camp. I felt so amazing. I don’t know what happened,” said Wilder.
“That killer didn’t come out when it was supposed to, and that’s something I have to put back together, and I will because he [Parker] had no business beating me. Not even on a magnificent day for him.”
If Wilder wants to regain his form, he needs to eat right, put on weight, train hard, and find the courage that he once had. It would also help for him not to move around the ring as much as he did against weak opposition.
There’s no reason on earth that Wilder should have been running from a mediocre heavyweight like Joseph Parker, as this guy is barely fringe-level. He hadn’t fought anyone good since his loss to Joe Joyce last year, and that was his only decent opponent in five years.
“Look at how many fights he’s had. He’s been very active, but he didn’t do nothing,” said Wilder about Parker, who has largely been fighting poor lower-level opposition through the last five years, except for his fight with Joe Joyce last year, which he lost.”
Parker has been fighting a lot since 2018, but his opposition has been terrible. Joseph’s opposition since 2018:
Simon Kean
Faiga Opelu
Jack Massey
Joe Joyce: loss
Dereck Chisora x 2
Junior Fa
Shawndell Winters
Alex Leapai
Alexander Flores
Dillian Whyte: loss
Anthony Joshua: loss
“The fight was okay, but neither one of really did anything. He caught me in a dazing moment,” said Wilder about Parker. “I kind of zoned out, and he caught me [on the eighth round]. It wasn’t that I was hurt. None of his punches phased me. I smiled going back to my corner, but things like this shouldn’t happen.”
Wilder looked disengaged mentally during the eighth round, was too reactive, and did not go on the attack against Parker. He should have been on the attack, looking to take his head off. Parker was terrified in his fights against journeyman Dereck Chisora and Dillian Whyte. He also looked scared out of his wits against Joshua.
“I will regain myself and get back to that point, and when I do, I’m going to be vicious, my powerful than ever. Yeah, for sure. I’ll be back out there soon,” said Wilder when asked if the Saudis want him back out fighting. “They love boxing. Their attitude is win, lose or draw, ‘We want you to continue to come.
“They want that stuff there [Saudi Arabia]. They love that stuff there, but over here, I’m thrown stones at. I’m just glad to be part of the Saudi family, part of the royal family over there, and they accept me for who I am,” said Wilder.
