Deontay Wilder reveals that he’s rededicated to boxing after losing to Joseph Parker last December at the ‘Day of Reckoning’ event in Saudi Arabia.
Deontay didn’t put in the work required for that level of a fight against a hungry Parker, who had been working feverishly for this contest, staying in Saudi Arabia.
Wilder’s Analysis: What Went Wrong
The former WBC heavyweight champion Wilder (43-3-1, 42 KOs) blames his defeat to Parker on a combination of travel, inactivity, success, and only three weeks of training for the fight.
Wilder, 38, didn’t go into the fight with former WBO champion Parker with the preparation he needed for that level of match-up. Deontay had boxed just one round in two years before facing Parker and was not nearly ready for that match.
In contrast, the younger fighter, 31-year-old Parker, had fought five times in the same time frame Wilder had from 2021, and yeah, he’d been blown out of the water by his only decent opponent, Joe Joyce, in 2022, but he’d still been busy.
From Success to Setback: Wilder’s Wake-Up Call
“We’re putting ourselves back together. Success has taken me out of my element where I used to be a gym rat to where I’m only coming to the gym when I have fights,” said Deontay Wilder to ESNEWS about how he’s rededicating himself to boxing now after his loss to Joseph Parker.
If Wilder is going to keep his career alive, he’s got to stay in the gym and make a lot of changes to his game plan. Some believe he should dump his trainer, Malik Scott, as no adjustments were made in Wilder’s game during his fight with Parker.
Rededication and Renewed Focus
“All that has changed. I’ve rededicated myself to this. I’m in the gym every day. I’m taking it like a job now.
“It was a boring fight; nothing really happened,” said Deontay about his loss to Parker last December in Saudi Arabia. “I went right back to training the next day.”
Wilder must fight differently if he’s going to achieve the success he had in the past. He’s got to fight aggressively like he did in the past.
In training for that, I had to travel two times, 20 hours of traveling. And those guys were already in Europe; they were only 2/3 hours away. I’m just saying what I had to go through,” said Wilder.
