Frank Smith of Matchroom says he’s hearing that former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder will retire following his loss to Joseph Parker last Saturday night in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
If the 38-year-old Wilder ends his 15-year professional career, Anthony Joshua will lose out because there’s still fan interest in seeing the two fight regardless of Deontay’s defeat.
Just as fans were still interested in watching Joshua fight after getting knocked out by Andy Ruiz Jr. and twice beaten by Oleksandr Usyk, they’ll still want to see Wilder fight.
What Deontay needs obviously is to go on a diet of has-beens like the opposition that Joshua has been fighting in his last three fights against Otto Wallin, Robert Helenius, and Jermaine Franklin.
Those are the types of pick-me-ups Deontay needs to look like a top-three heavyweight again, as fans are now calling AJ a day after his win against Wallin.
A dismal performance
Wilder (43-3-1, 42 KOs) looked an all-time worse against a fighter that many boxing fans felt was nothing special in Parker (34-3, 23 KOs), who had been slaughtered last year by Joe Joyce.
This was the same Parker that Joyce beat, but Wilder made him look good, like Otto Wallin made Anthony Joshua appear good. It was the same AJ and the same Parker, but they had the ideal opponents in front of them.
Parker won by the scores 118-111, 120-108, and 118-110 against a gunshy Wilder, who wasn’t throwing punches. It wasn’t that Parker was doing anything special. He was there to be hit the entire fight, but Wilder appeared frozen, not throwing, looking indecisive.
If Wilder does return to the ring, most would agree that he needs to do it soon because he can’t afford to sit out of the ring for 14 months like he did this time.
The fickleness of boxing
“I think we saw the old Anthony Joshua. I think we saw a spiteful Anthony Joshua and a tremendous win. He dominated him from start to finish. Fair play, he’s got a few big years ahead,” said Frank Smith of Matchroom to Boxing King Media, discussing Anthony Joshua’s win over Otto Wallin last Saturday night.
“It’s one of those things. People are so quick to judge fighters and say ‘They’re finished,’ and now he’s in the top two or top three or whatever they want to say,” said Smith about some boxing fans saying Joshua is now in the top three after his win over Wallin.
“As we’ve seen with many heavyweights, it’s not always going to be your best night, and I think you’re seeing a great period for Anthony Joshua that will continue. I think momentum is key to that,” said Smith, failing to point out that Joshua has been exclusively facing marginal opposition in his last three fights to ensure he stops losing following his second defeat against Oleksandr Usyk last year.
“I think they talk about Deontay Wilder. Should we have learned about doing it before? Maybe, but who knows? We wouldn’t have had all these other nights over the years if we had fought Deontay Wilder back then.
“It’s easy to look back in hindsight and say, ‘Should we have done it back then? Let’s just enjoy the nights that we’ll have in the future.
Retirement – A Premature Call?
“It was a brilliant performance,” said Smith about Joseph Parker and his win over Deontay. “He had to stay away from that big punch from Wilder for 36 minutes, but a tremendous performance from Joseph Parker. It was probably one of the best we’ve seen from him.
“Joseph Parker, if you look back to when he lost against Joe Joyce. People would say that Joseph Parker is finished. That’s the fickleness of the sport, but a great performance from him.
“Deontay Wilder, I think he said he’ll look at retiring possibly after that, but it’s madness, especially the heavyweight division, the way things turn around,” said Smith.
