Joseph Parker upsets Deontay Wilder with unanimous decision win،
Joseph Parker dominated Deontay Wilder on Saturday night in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, en route to a major upset in the battle of former heavyweight champions.
New Zealander Parker won with scores of 118-111, 118-110 and 120-108.
Wilder entered the fight as a -700 favorite, according to ESPN BET, and did so with a deal in place to meet Anthony Joshua on March 9 in Riyadh, sources said. This deal was contingent on Wilder and Joshua winning.
Spoiling those plans, Parker's win over Wilder was Joshua's co-feature against Otto Wallin, which Joshua won handily.
“Coming into this fight, everyone had other plans, but this is God's plan,” said Parker, ESPN's No. 8 heavyweight. “Today, what a victory. Merry Christmas to us.”
Parker's strategy was sound: avoid Wilder's dangerous right hand and force him to respect the power of his enemy. Parker (34-3, 23 KO) timed Wilder early and often with looping right hands over the top.
The game plan has apparently made Wilder reluctant to shed his careless right hand that always finds its mark. But at 38 years old and with only one round of activity since November 2021, the American fighter admitted that his “timing was a little off”.
“He did a great job avoiding a lot of my punches,” said Wilder, ESPN's No. 3 heavyweight. “We're not making any excuses tonight. It was a good fight and we're moving on.”
What the future holds is unclear now that plans to fight Joshua are ruined. Wilder's long heavyweight title reign ended in 2020 when he lost to Tyson Fury in a rematch.
After that seventh-round TKO loss, Wilder (43-3-1, 42 KO) was knocked out by Fury in the 11th round of the heavyweight championship trilogy bout that was named the 2021 Fight of the Year by ESPN.
Wilder earned a first-round knockout over Robert Helenius in October 2022, but has not fought since. When Wilder stepped through the ropes on Saturday, he looked slow and timid.
Parker, 31, beat Andy Ruiz in 2016 to win a vacant heavyweight title, but lost the WBO belt to Joshua in 2018.
He was knocked out by Joe Joyce in September 2022 but bounced back with three wins in 2023 before fighting his toughest opponent.
“He caught me a few times, and it’s a really hard right hand,” Parker said of Wilder.
But it was Parker who landed the biggest shots against one of the division's all-time punchers.
In the eighth round, Parker connected with an overhand right that buckled Wilder and forced him to hold on.
Fury had similar success with looping shots in his three fights with Wilder, and Parker said his training buddy helped him prepare with his experience.
“I’m back,” Parker said.
