Joseph Parker (34-3, 23 KOs) upset the applecart, beating Deontay Wilder (43-3-1, 42 KOs) by a twelve round unanimous decision in a contest that spoils the plans for a massive fight between ‘The Bronze Bomber’ and Anthony Joshua.
Parker dominated 38-year-old Wilder from start to finish, outworking and out-punching him the entire 12 round fight to win a wide decision by the scores 118-111, 118-110, and 120-108.
Parker outboxes a passive Wilder
It was immediately apparent that this wasn’t the Wilder that fans had remembered him being from earlier in his career, who was lethal with the way he would destroy his opponents with right hand bombs.
Tonight, the frail-looking Wilder’s power & speed didn’t appear the same as it had been during his best years. His physique looked atrophied, like someone who hadn’t been training for a long time and had lost muscle.
Parker capitalized on the absence of punches being thrown back at him and pressured Wilder, tagging him with unanswered shots and getting bolder as the rounds wore on.
Wilder’s accuracy was gone tonight, as he couldn’t connect even when Parker was at point-blank range. It was as if Wilder was punching with his eyes closed because there was no way he should have missed the stationary, easy-to-hit Parker, who is a basic heavyweight, who had been easily handled last year by Joe Joyce in a total beat down.
Wilder couldn’t pull the trigger on his right hand for whatever reason, showing classic signs of a shot. Parker didn’t look great, but he didn’t need to be.
“My timing was off a little bit,” said Deontay to DAZN Boxing after the fight, trying to make sense of why he lost to Parker. “Joseph did a great job of avoiding of my punches, and we move on to the next thing.”
Joseph literally did NOTHING to avoid Wilder’s punches. The only reason Wilder couldn’t hit him is because of his inactivitity, fighting one round in two years, coupled with the fact that he’s pushing 40 years old.
You could tell from looking at how much muscle Wilder has lost, he’s not been training hard for the last two years since 2021. He had the look of someone that hasn’t been training for years, and has atrophied to the extreme.
The New Zealander Parker is nothing special and would lost to most of the top 15 contenders in the division, but against the 40-ish Wilder, he had more than enough to win. Deontay made Parker look good, which is hard to do because this guy would be food for any of the top tier heavyweights.
Parker controlled the rounds, using pressure, jabs to the head, and power shots to work over Deontay. In the seventh round, Parker pinned Wilder to the ropes and nailed him with a triple hook to the head.
Wilder was so bad that he would likely have lost to every heavyweight on tonight’s Day of Reckoning card in a more decisive manner. In hindsight, the management for Wilder should have chosen Otto Wallin or Junior Fa as his opponent rather than the 31-year-old Parker, who is still a decent bottom fringe-level heavyweight at this stage in his career.
