Promoter Frank Warren says he was told by Deontay Wilder’s manager Shelly Finkel, that he had a problem after sitting in a cryo chamber for a long time. Warren isn’t sure what to make of the revelation of Wilder (43-3-1, 42 KOs) being in a cryo chamber for an extended period.
It’s reportedly dangerous to be in a cryo chamber for more than 4 minutes at a time. It could be fatal to stay in too long. One complication of being in a cryo chamber is nerve damage, which would be good for a fighter who depends on reflexes.
Frank doesn’t say how long Deontay stayed in the cryo chamber, but if it was for more than 4 minutes, some fans would point to this as a potential cause for his loss to Parker. If Wilder has nerve damage, that’s worrisome.
Warren does say Deontay “looked dreadful” in his one-sided twelve round unanimous decision loss to Joseph Parker (34-3, 23 KOs) last Saturday night at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Deontay couldn’t get his shots off for some reason, and he didn’t look like the same fighter he’d been.
Wilder fought like he couldn’t pull the trigger, and when he did, his punches didn’t look as fast or as powerful as they’d been. Could be the ill effects of his time in the cryo chamber?
The Cryo Chamber Cloud
“These big guys, anything can happen when they get in the ring, and his last fight, he was a big, big favorite to win the fight,” said Frank Warren to talkSPORT Boxing, reacting to Deontay Wilder’s loss to Joseph Parker.
“I’ve been saying from the beginning. ‘I don’t know Deontay Wilder would show up. He’s had one round of boxing in two years,’ and I thought he looked pretty dreadful.”
Deontay’s woes
Wilder looked like someone else and not the fighter he’d been 14 months ago when he starched Robert Helenius in one round. That version of Wilder was letting his hands go, and wasn’t the imposter that showed up last Saturday night. It’s difficult to stay sharp when you fight only one round since 2021, like Wilder.
The poor performance could have been the 38-year-old Wilder’s age suddenly kicking in. Some fighters get old overnight, and it doesn’t help when you’ve been out of the ring for 14 months like Deontay.
“We talk about boxers getting old. He’s [Wilder] turning 39 next year [in October 2024]. Ring rust, maybe? Parker’s game plan, we mustn’t taking it away from him and Andy Lee,” said Gareth A. Davies.
“He done a very, very good job. There’s no doubt about that, Joe,” said Warren. “I felt right from the start. In the first couple of rounds. In the first round, they threw two punches.”
“It was a very low punch count, and the fight was very calculated,” said Gareth. “The weird thing is, Tyson Fury’s advice was to avoid the right hand, and he [Parker] went low, and he avoided the right hand all night, and he landed his own.”
Since we don’t know if Deontay’s nerves were affected by his cryo chamber session, it’s impossible to know what led to him not throwing shots. Could that be the smoking gun?
The logical question is why Wilder would take the risk of spending time in a cryo chamber, given the potential side effects of nerve damage. It doesn’t make sense. Who told him to do this?
“He landed his own, and he [Parker] was catching him repeatedly with it, and a couple of times, he wobbled him. There was no doubt about it,” said Warren about Parker hurting Deontay. “Joe Parker has come through and done the business, and I really don’t know what he does now, Deontay.
Parker looked good only because Wilder wasn’t throwing punches. If this had been Joe Joyce inside the ring with Parker last Saturday night, he’d been the same punching bag as he was last year, and beaten to a pulp once again.
Parker is a decent bottom-fringe-level fighter, but no better than that. If his [promoter believes he’s the goods, put him back in with Joe Joyce or Zhilei Zhang to see how long he lasts.
Wilder’s cryo chamber session = cause of poor performance?
“I was speaking with Shelly Finkel, and he said he had a problem. He went into one of those cryo chambers and sat in there for quite a long time. I don’t know,” said Warren. “Obviously, there’s going to be some excuse.”
“The air of menace wasn’t there for him tonight, I thought,” said Gareth about Wilder’s lack of normal aggression.
“Yeah, but Joe didn’t let him into it. You can’t take it away from Joe. Him and Andy got their tactics right, and they done it in style,” said Warren. “In this fight tonight with Wilder, it seemed like there wasn’t an urgency whatsoever about him.
“Those rounds he was slipping behind, slipping behind, and there was no sense of urgency to get back into the fight,” said Warren about Deontay.
